


Second Chance

by tonksfan94



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Character Death, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-02-09
Updated: 2013-08-08
Packaged: 2017-11-28 17:09:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 43,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/676847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tonksfan94/pseuds/tonksfan94
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry gets ambushed by Voldemort in the summer after fifth year, priori incantatem happens; the order is too late in arriving while Voldemort has another wand up his sleeve, Harry travels back in time six years and meets someone he knew before. post ootp, time-travel, HONKS.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Jump

SECOND CHANCE

* * *

 

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and the other characters; they are the property of J. K. Rowling and the Warner Bros. Inc. I am merely using and playing with them in this piece of fiction.

No money is being made by me or any other person related to me by any kind through the means of this fanfic.

* * *

 

Chapter 1

The temporal Jump

* * *

 

Harry Potter was sitting on the threadbare bed in his room at No. 4, Privet Drive; and for the first time in his life and certainly for the first time since Snape’s Occlumency lessons, he was sitting with a clear mind.

That is not to say that Harry had suddenly made a huge jump in Occlumency or he was even practicing it, but his clear mind was due to the fact that he felt nothing, numb. No pain of Sirius’ death, no guilt, anger, anything.

Unlike with Cedric’s just a year ago, when Harry had been guilt-ridden and his nights riddled with nightmares and his uncle’s screaming for him to ‘stop the bloody noise’; this time Harry did not have even a single nightmare, and as for guilt he knew damn well that there were many people who shared a larger burden for Sirius’ death than him.

His relatives had not bothered him all summer as the threat given to them by the Order members had worked spectacularly and they were more than happy to believe that he was not even in the house.

Harry could not be any more happier to live at 4, Privet Drive and not face his ‘family’ but it was as if like his happiness had been sucked out of him after the death of Sirius but he was too tired emotionally to feel pain and sadness so the place where Sirius lived in his heart was now a void.

Sure, he still wrote the Order every three days that he was really fine and the Dursleys need not be threatened again but a lack of letters from his friends and even from Remus had hit him hard; only Tonks wrote to him and that too was sporadically as she was really busy with her auror duties now that the ministry had agreed that Voldemort had indeed come back.

Speaking of Voldemort, things had not been going well for the light side now that his return was in the open; in the next month after the Ministry fiasco, Voldemort had attacked and killed Director of DMLE and a prominent candidate for minister post, Amelia Bones and Order member Emmeline Vance; apart from these he had broken out the captured death eaters from Azkaban, these failures had resulted in the removal of Fudge from the Minister’s post. Rufus Scrimgeour, previous head auror had been named the new Minister of Magic in the place of Fudge.

The only good thing that had happened after the Ministry debacle was that Sirius was proven innocent and was granted posthumous exoneration after the trials of the captured death eaters. That meant that his will was valid and he had left everything to Harry along with a request to adopt him by blood and magic. Dumbledore had granted the request after much consideration of the effects of the adoption ritual on the blood-wards at Privet Drive. Thus Harry James Potter was now known as Harry James Potter—Black.

Harry was going towards the play-park in Surrey to get away from the oppressive feel of the Dursley house for a bit, he had just rounded the corner from Wisteria Walk when he felt a tingle up his spine and the hairs at the back of his neck prickled. The feeling was vaguely familiar to that he had experienced when he had entered Ollivander’s shop and Hogwarts for the first time. He tried to back away but found that he could not move his body at all, it was as if someone had cast a full body—bind at him.

He could faintly see the outlines of a number of runes and was just berating himself for not listening to Moody’s advice of ‘CONSTANT VIGILANE’ when his scar burst open in pain, he instinctively tried to reach with his hand to cover his scar but couldn't due to the paralyzing effect of the runes, what he saw made his blood run cold.

Lord Voldemort Apparated just 15 yards from him with a very pleased gleam in his eyes.

“Well, well, well; Harry Potter, once again walking unsuspecting straight into a trap laid by Lord Voldemort.” Voldemort spoke silkily as he waved his wand and the runes disappeared and Harry’s body regained its ability to move.

Harry, on the other hand was panicking and berating himself for forcing Dumbledore to stop the Order from guard duty at Privet Drive. ‘Looks like my time has come at last, sorry Ron, Hermione; I could not escape this time. I am coming mum, dad, Sirius.’ Harry thought.

“Well boy, here is no way that you are escaping me alive this time. But worry not; this would not be for the lack of trying. Lord Voldemort would grant you a fair chance.

“Take out your wand boy; let’s see what have you learned from the last time we dueled.” Voldemort spoke with a sneer and a grandiose wave in Harry’s direction.

Harry took out his wand and immediately had to dive out of the path of a twisting red bolt of **Crucio** straight into the path of a purple beam which hit his left shoulder and broke it with a loud snap.

Harry bit back a scream and stood up again as Voldemort waved his wand and three unknown curses sped into Harry’s direction at a great speed, somehow Harry was able to dodge the curses and sent a **Stupefy** and a **Reducto** at lord Voldemort who swatted the stunner aside like an insect but the Reductor hit the ground in front of him sending debris some of which hit and drew some blood from the Dark Lord.

Voldemort was enraged now; ‘how dare this filthy half-blood stand up to the powers of the dark lord.’ “ **AVADA KEDAVRA** ” he screamed.

To Harry it happened in ultra-slow motion, he knew as soon as the killing curse erupted from Voldemort’s wand where it would impact and neatly sidestepped it sending a severing curse and a Reductor in Voldemort’s general direction who merely deflected them back at him with a sneer and sent another killing curse at Harry.

“Who is going to save you now Harry; both parents and a godfather, you would not have a godmother lying around waiting for the chance to jump in front of a curse for you, would you?” Voldemort taunted as Harry dodged the spells.

Harry was enraged by Voldemort’s taunts and made a deadly mistake in his anger as he could not react to another bone shattering curse which impacted on his ribs collapsing his left lung.

Voldemort wasted no time in asserting his advantage and sent another killing curse to end the life of his arch nemesis but Harry reacted quickly and sent a disarming charm just like the graveyard and again the phoenix song and golden cage thing happened.

“Oh, I am ready for this thing this time Potter” Voldemort hissed as he brought out another wand and sent another curse which Harry failed to see straight at him. The new killing curse was however sucked into the connection between the two brother wands and a golden light impacted Harry in the gut and he vanished from sight.

Voldemort felt the familiar apparition signature of his old teacher and now the most hated enemy, Albus Dumbledore and disapparated from the street even as the old Headmaster started to fire curses at him without losing any time.

Dumbledore arrived at the scene to find the remnants of a battle lying around the street without any sign of the saviour of the wizarding world, Harry Potter.

A series of pops announced the arrival of other people. He whirled around to see a team of three people in grey cloaks with their faces concealed by some sort of shadowing and obscuring charms woven into the hoods.

He knew instinctively that these people were Unspeakables from the Department of Mysteries and went towards them to figure out why they had arrived here.

“Hello, may I ask what is the Department of Mysteries doing at the site of the battle between Lord Voldemort and Harry Potter so soon after the Disapparition of Voldemort?” Dumbledore asked very suspicious of the grey cloaked people as he knew Voldemort’s death eater Rookwood had been an Unspeakable during the first war and did not know how many people in that particular department were sympathizers or in league with the dark.

“The Department of Mysteries recorded a temporal disturbance at this site just a few minutes ago and we were dispatched to find out the cause.” A person in the centre of the group said his voice distorted by some spell making it nearly impossible to discern whether they were male or female.

“Temporal disturbance?” Dumbledore said a bit shocked though the twinkle in his eyes increased a bit to see that Harry had survived and just lost somewhere in time.

The person just nodded and they started waving their wands in complex patterns and muttering something under their breath.

“May I help you in your investigation?” Dumbledore asked to grasp as to the state in which his favourite pupil should be (past or future).

Again the person who was obviously the leader of this group just nodded and Dumbledore started to wave his wand and muttering spells under his breath.

They soon figure that there were two apparition signatures in the alley which Dumbledore supplied came from him and Voldemort; also they found three magical signature one belonging to Dumbledore, another to Harry and the last one to Voldemort.

“In addition to the magical and apparition signatures we have also found the remnants of a petrifying ward and a strange signature with large amount of dark magic in the area.” The leader of the Unspeakables said to which Dumbledore waved his wand once more and the results even stumped the most knowledgeable wizard on earth.

“The results of my scan are a bit baffling” Dumbledore started; “the closest I can say is this that the peculiar signature matches to that of a phoenix and is closely related to the temporal disturbance that you have mentioned.”

The Unspeakables nodded again and disapparated away leaving Dumbledore to his musings. He knew that Harry had somehow disappeared about ten years in the past but ‘No need to tell the Ministry of this.’ He thought as he too disapparated to call a meeting of the Order of the Phoenix and formulate a plan to counter these events.

* * *

 

Harry felt like he was being stretched and shrunk simultaneously while falling through a rainbow tunnel. He was finding it very hard to breathe which was worsened by the fact that his lung had collapsed during the battle with Voldemort and a number of other injuries sustained by him.

As he was feeling a little lightheaded the fall stopped and he found himself on a street remarkably similar to the one he had disappeared not too long ago. As he lost consciousness a trio in grey cloaks Apparated in a series of pops of varying intensity and portkeyed him away.

Harry woke up to a sensation of sterile smell assaulting his nostrils and someone prodding him with a stick ‘or a wand’ he thought as an afterthought. He could not help but groan as the wand poked a tender spot alerting the persons in there to his conscious presence.

The healer poured a clear blue potion into his throat which tasted quite disgusting but worked at once and soothed away majority of his pain.

As Harry opened his eye for second time he noticed that there were two persons in the room standing on either side of his bed apart from the healer.

“Um…Hello.” He spoke unsure how to address them.

“Hello, may I know your name?” the person on the left side of his bed spoke in an oddly distorted voice.

‘That’s a first’ Harry thought but spoke nonetheless “Harry Potter”

“Thought so.” The person spoke and then continued “Mr. Potter, I am agent Smith and this is agent Brown and healer Murton; we are from the Department of Mysteries.”

Harry panicked ‘Shite, guess the Unspeakables are angry at me for breaking into their Department. Can’t even run away, don’t have my wand and don’t know how many are guarding me apart from these three.’

“Uh… what do you want from me?” he asked nervously.

“We were dispatched to investigate a temporal disturbance in Little Whinging, Surrey; when we arrived there we found you badly hurt, lying in the middle of the street in a smoking heap with a large concentration of dark and unknown magic in the area. Can you tell us what happened?” this time the one on the right asked.

“Temporal Disturbance? You mean time—travel right?” Harry asked confused.

“Yes, Mr. Potter time—travel; now please tell us what magic did you use to have travelled in time?” the person asked again a little more forcefully.

“I don’t know.” Harry replied confusedly. ‘I did not use any unknown magic, did I?’ he thought.

“Very well, you will submit to a Veritaserum testimony to make the events clearer to us?” though it was asked in a questioning tone; it was more of an order than a request and Harry nodded knowing that he had no chance to escape without the will of these people.

The healer pulled out another vial, this time filled with a colourless liquid that Harry could remember Snape threatening him with during his fourth year, and poured five drops in his mouth.

Harry felt a curious sensation, it was like an imperious curse but at the same time quite stronger than the one used at him by even Voldemort. It was like his own senses were urging him to tell them the truth honestly to all their questions but he could fight it down so that he can withhold some information and give them answers honestly at the same time.

“What is your name?” the Unspeakable asked when Harry’s eyes glazed over.

“Harry James Potter.” Honest but not the whole truth.

“What is today’s date?”

“16 June 1996”

“How did you travel in time?”

“I don’t know.”

“What happened prior to the time travel?”

“I and Voldemort dueled.”

There were a few flinches and a scream (healer) at Voldemort’s name but the unspeakable continued. “Tell us everything about the duel.”

“I was walking from Privet Drive to Wisteria Walk when I stepped in a warded area and was petrified instantly; Voldemort arrived and made me duel him. The golden cage thingy happened again but he somehow hit me with another curse and I woke up here.”

“Describe the golden cage, why does it happen?”

“It is golden, it has phoenix song in the background, and it happens because my wand has the same core as Voldemort’s”

The unspeakable scowled a little at the obvious pun even under Veritaserum but did not say anything. The healer administered the antidote at the gesture from the Unspeakable.

“So, what happened?” Harry asked once he was free from the influence of the truth potion.

“We do not know for sure but we can tell you that since you did not use any known spell or even magic we cannot send you back to your time.” The one on the left answered.

“So what is the date today and what happens now?” Harry asked slightly more scared than he would ever like to admit.

“Today’s date is 19 June 1990, and as for what happens now; you will have to make an oath to never reveal your true identity to anyone and to not change the timeline as you know. Also you will be given a new identity and a new wand and we can enroll you into Hogwarts under the guise of a transfer student.”

Harry thought about it for a long time. ‘Damn, I have arrived six years back in time. I can save Cedric, Sirius. It’s like a _Second Chance_ ; I can rectify my mistakes from the first time around. But how to get out of this oath? Damn, out of one problem straight into another.’

“Okay, what do I have to do?” Harry asked.

“Hold your wand aloft and say ‘I, Your name, solemnly swear upon my life and magic to not reveal my true identity to anyone and not change the timeline until 16 June 1996. So mote it be.’” The unspeakable told and looked at him expectantly.

Harry waited for them to give him his wand but inside his mind was racing ‘How to get out of this? Think Potter, Potter? That’s it, I am Potter—Black now, not Potter, thanks Sirius, I will not let you down.’

“Well?” the unspeakable snapped.

“Well what, give me my wand.” Harry retorted and the Unspeakable reached into his robes and pulled out his wand as the healer and the other unspeakable tried to stifle their laughter.

Harry took the wand from his hand eagerly and held it aloft as the unspeakable had showed him and spoke, ‘I, Harry James Potter, solemnly swear upon my life and magic not to reveal my true identity and not to change the timeline until 16 June 1996. So mote it be.’” And forced his strongest **Lumos** silently.

“Very Good, Mr. Potter. But unfortunately we would have to get you a new wand while this one and your other possessions will be held in a secure vault at Gringotts till 16 June 1996. We cannot have two identical magical signatures running around now, can we?”

Harry grudgingly gave the wand back to him and asked the question that was burning him since he had learned that he will enroll at Hogwarts under a new identity. “Wait, do I have to take my OWLs again, I mean I had completed my fifth year at Hogwarts when this happened.”

“Yes, Mr. Potter; you are going to have to retake your OWLs after your new identity is generated in a couple of days. Rest now, we will discuss the rest tomorrow.” The unspeakable said and the three of them left the room leaving Harry alone to his thoughts.


	2. Confusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The past trip starts fully...

SECOND CHANCE

* * *

Chapter 2

Confusion and Identities

* * *

 

Harry had not been able to sleep soundly as he had hoped for. He spent most of the night tossing and turning in his bed. Finally after nearly two and a half hours of restless lying down on the bed he decided to plan and plot for the changes he would make now that he has the chance.

‘Have to study more, can’t afford to slack off like I did in the past. Should definitely threaten my ‘relatives’ accordingly, making the life easier for my younger self is one thing I have to do. Changes, changes; who should I save… AAARGHH, it’s confusing…’

After nearly one and a half hour of plotting and planning sleep finally claimed Harry Potter but he was interrupted by a dream that would leave him even more confused than he was before.

**~Dream Sequence~**

_Harry looked around the landscape he found himself in… it was quite beautiful with a stream running about 50 meters from where he was standing; the stream seemed to come from the mountains that he could faintly see at the horizon. He walked towards the stream and saw the outline of a cottage which made the landscape with its grassy floor even more beautiful than many of the postcards he had seen._

_Harry walked towards the cottage to see if someone lived there and if they could tell him where he was, the last he could remember he was planning in his bed in the Department of Mysteries. There were a couple of voices coming from the cottage, a male and a female, Harry felt as if the female voice was vaguely familiar while the male one sounded like his own just a bit more mature._

_Harry walked to the door and knocked softly, there was a sound of footsteps and the door opened to reveal a pale skinned female with crimson hair and his own green eyes. Behind her he could see a tall man with his own raven’s nest of hair and hazel eyes behind round glasses. ‘No, it can’t be…’ Harry thought and promptly fainted._

_“I think we should have let him see us one at a time.” The female remarked to the man as they levitated Harry into the cottage and settled him in a couch._

_“Nah, wouldn’t have been so much fun to see him that shocked and fainting, he did not even faint when he learned Pettigrew was the real traitor and Sirius was innocent.” The man said with a laugh and was punched in the shoulder by his wife._

_The woman **Rennervated** Harry and he sat up with a start and immediately looked around; as he caught the eyes of the couple he said in a choked voice, “Mum...Dad?” and as the couple nodded with tears shining in their eyes he got up and embraced both of them fiercely. “I have missed you so much.” He said between sobs._

_“We have missed you too, son.” The woman now known as the deceased Lily Potter said as she too fought back her own sobs and tears while the man now identified as James Potter just reveled in the warmth of having his family complete together for however small time they have._

_A while later when both Harry and his wife calmed down James looked at his son and couldn’t help but be proud of what he had done so far but there were also many things that made him enraged and he could only smile tightly, something which did not quite reach his eyes. James and Lily had seen what Harry had done so far and what had happened to him but to say the boy messed up big time would be an understatement; it was for this reason Harry saw that their smiles were a bit strained and could not help but ask curiously “What’s wrong, mum?”_

_“Wrong, many things are wrong, Harry; I have to say wrong is an understatement even.” James began in an even voice and Harry could not help but feel he was about to be given a huge verbal tongue lashing, he turned that for once Lily Potter looked like she wanted to do much worse than James was._

_“As you know we gave our lives so that you could live that night but you, young man, could not have danced on our graves naked and pissed on them and we could not be any angrier. Okay the Dursleys treated you bad, I would even say that that scum treated you like filth but you dealt with that fine enough._

_“So where is that Slytherin cunning that kept you from harm at the Dursleys, where is that thirst to learn more, to prove yourself that you displayed at Privet Drive. I can grant that as an 11 year old you were naïve, I can grant you first three years that you were young, innocent; but can’t you see a pattern? Slacking off with that ginger, never bothering to read ahead, okay school will not help much with Voldemort but it is the foundation of all, if you can’t transfigure a goblet you can’t become Animagus and if you can’t study in school, you can’t hope to learn anything more advanced.” James finished in the same tone but Harry could tell he was holding back a lot of emotion._

_Harry opened his mouth to say something but Lily cut him off this time and she too spoke in an even tone that belied her anger, “Don’t even bother to deny it Harry. What electives did you take, Divination? Okay you wanted more time with your friend but wasn’t that Granger girl your friend too?” she asked rhetorically and continued, voice rising with the passage of time, “You expect Albus to train you, help you when you yourself are not doing any good job of that. When was the last time you bothered to study anything outside of school? Fourth year, Voldemort came back at the end of that; what did you do in your fifth year? Did you try to learn dueling even with that fantastic room at your aid?”_

_“But, I can’t bloody well hope to beat him in knowledge or experience; he has got loads more than me?” Harry shouted. ‘How dare they belittle me when they were not even there for me?’_

_“Check your language young man, no you cannot beat him in experience but you can be faster than him; in the end it only takes one curse to end it all, doesn’t it?” James pointed out._

_“You want me to practice dark magic; as if it is not enough that I can feel him inside of me, you want me to be like him.” Harry growled out with clenched teeth._

_“No, you do not understand; tell me, if I levitate you to a great height and drop you or banish you from a cliff; it would be the same as killing you with the killing curse, would it not?” James asked to which Harry nodded grudgingly._

_“Precisely, so you see, magic is not dark or light; both can be used to fulfill good as well as evil purposes, if you kill someone for self defence or protecting others, it does not weigh upon your soul neither does it make you a murdering monster while on the other hand if you kill without remorse it makes you what you know as Voldemort.” He continued triumphantly._

_Harry thought about what his father was saying for a long moment and hazarded a glance towards his mother who just gave him a minute nod, finally he blew out a tired sigh and said, “Okay, I understand what you are saying but that does not mean that I will not try to take prisoners alive as well.”_

_His parents just nodded but Lily said, “Remember Harry, there are some of them which do not deserve to be kept alive for they have done so many crimes without any remorse and of their own choices, this is one of the greatest mistakes Dumbledore made the first time around or it would have been a much better condition when he was finally stopped.”_

_“Second thing we want you to learn Harry, is to give proper respect to the people and by proper I mean that you do not name your children Albus Snivellus even after they have fucked around so much with your life.” James said._

_Harry nodded but asked a question that was burning into his mind since his Occlumency lessons with Snape, “Hey dad, umm…why did you bully Snape so much? I saw his memory after the DADA OWL test.”_

_“Bully him? We did not bully him, we stood up to him and his ‘dark art fanatic’ buddies. Snivellus and his friends were the biggest supporters of Voldemort and used to use dark curse on Muggleborn first and second year students and no one even punished them, so we used to prank them hard to teach them a lesson and to show the students that they were not some cool bunch, just pathetic bullies who could not face someone their own size._

_“Snivellus was no angel, Harry; he and his friends all ended up as Death Eaters; also he used to start most of the fights whenever he saw one of us alone, just that we were better than him and the teachers punished us more does not mean that he was scot-free.” James replied hoping that his so would now see the true face of ‘Snivellus Snape’._

_“Now that we have given you a piece of our mind, I must congratulate you on your brilliant deception of the Ministry; a prank worthy of Marauders if I do say so myself.” James said proudly while Harry blushed a bit at praise._

_It was at this time a violent earthquake shook the land and Lily spoke, “Okay son, we do not have much time; do not change the timeline too much or the future would become surprising and you will lose one of your major advantages. Remember, we are proud of you and we love you very much; just pay head to our advice too.”_

**~Dream sequence ends~**

“Mr. Potter, wake up Mr. Potter.” The healer was shaking him awake in his room.

“Ugh…I am up, I’m up.” Harry said sitting up and blinking his eyes owlishly.

“Good morning, Mr. Potter; now, before the agents come here please tell me if you have any remaining pain from your injuries, anything wrong at all?” the healer asked while waving his wand all over him.

“No, no pain; when can I get out of here?” Harry asked.

“You can get out of the hospital Wing after breakfast as for the Department; you will have to ask the agents, I am afraid.” The healer said as he waved his wand once more and a tray full of breakfast with a pitcher of orange juice arrived at the nightstand.

Harry completed his breakfast and went out of the Hospital Wing where he found the two agents that had interrogated him the previous day waiting for him just outside the Hospital.

“Good, you are discharged Mr. Potter; agent Smith would escort you to your room here and discuss your new identity with you; afterwards you can leave as soon as you are fluent enough in answering questions about your previous school and life there.

Harry nodded and was ‘escorted’, more like dragged to his room by agent Smith who then pulled out a shrunken trunk from his robes and enlarged it. He pulled out a folder from it and started flipping through it.

“This trunk, Mr. Potter, is a gift from the DOM to you; here you have clothes and robes that you would require as you do not have any money, reference material for your OWLs speaking of which this folder contains your new identity.” He said pointing to the folder in his hand. “I would suggest that you read and memorize it thoroughly till the evening when I would test you on your fluency and accuracy in details.

Also, the Department has paid your tuition fee for the next two years at Hogwarts and is providing you with a vault containing a thousand galleons for your expenses. Here is your key. Also here is a set of Pensieve memories of your previous school and neighbourhood; you can view them in the ‘Recollections Room’ which is first door on the left. I shall leave you to your studies then.” The agent said and walked out of the door.

Harry gave a weary sigh and started perusing the contents of the folder. It said that he was a Mark Jacobs, a Muggleborn, whose parents, Mr. Red Jacobs and Mrs. Rose Jacobs had died in a car crash leaving him an orphan when he was two. This part of the story was so similar to the one that the Dursleys had pounded in his head that he had to bite back tears and a growl of anger. It said that he lived near Texas area and was adopted by his teacher at Salem Wizarding Academy, Mr. Alexander Smith, when he showed accidental magic at the age of six. Mr. Smith died of Dragonpox the previous month and thus Mark came to England to study in his guardian’s old country as per his wishes.

Harry had memorized all the details by the evening and had satisfied the Unspeakables with his showing, the only matter that remained now was his new wand and appearance.

“Mr. Potter, we have taken the liberty to procure a wand on your behalf.” Agent Smith’s partner said handing him the wand, it was a very good match, though nowhere as familiar as his previous Holly and Phoenix feather one had been, but it was a better match than that one. His wonder must have shown on his face as the agent spoke without prompting, “We took the liberty of testing you with many materials while you were out and custom made this wand so it is a better match than your previous one. It is cherry wood, 11 inches, core materials being heartstring of a Ukrainian Ironbelly dipped in blood of Hungarian Horntail. Best used for defensive and offensive magic, very powerful.

“As for your appearance, we have decided to stray as much as possible from your Harry Potter persona, so here it is.” The agent waved his wand and a hologram of his new appearance floated out of it. The picture had sky blue hair, which was straight and spiky, grey eyes and same pale skin without his trademark lightning bolt scar.

“We cannot remove the scar from magical means and it is resisting every glamour so we will use this skin patch with a password protected permanent sticking charm and rest of your appearance will be altered by permanent glamour woven into a tattoo again protected by a password. As for your eyesight, we have procured magical contacts which don’t need to be cleaned as frequently as the muggle ones; just once a month would do fine.’ He explained.

Harry chose a phrase ‘Fortune favors the bold’ in Latin for tattoo as he had learned that it was the motto of the House Potter much like ‘Toujours Pur’ had been of House Black. The password for the glamours and skin-patch being ‘Harry Potter’ in Parseltongue.

“This is Ms. Amy Cartwright; she will be your contact for the Department and will help you settle in the society. Amy this is Mark Jacobs, your new assignment.” Smith said introducing an average looking woman around thirty years of age with average build and graying hair. She did not have any special feature and Harry figured that no one would remember her much even if they saw her around which is why she was the perfect liaison for the Department of Mysteries.

“Hello, Ms. Cartwright, nice to meet you.” Harry greeted her which she returned with a polite but warm smile.

“Hello Mark, please call me Amy, nice to meet you too.”

“Well this is where we bid you farewell Mr. Jacobs. Hope you have a pleasant future. Goodbye.” The unspeakable said as they walked out of the department door and into the corridor.

“So Mark, The Department has rented out a room for you at the Leaky Cauldron pub for the rest of the summer but you would have to look after yourself in the winters and after the school year.

“Thanks a heap Amy, I hope it was no bother to you and I would plan something by the next school year.” Harry thanked her.

“No, it was no problem. I will side-along Apparate you to the Cauldron so that you can get your rest as it has been a long day.” She said as she grasped his arm tightly and twisted on the spot Disapparating with him with a sharp crack and reappearing in front of the pub.

Harry had trouble keeping his footing and the contents of his stomach intact like all the other magical transport methods, had it not been for Amy tightly grasping his arm he would have fell down in a heap.

“Breathe it out Mark, Apparating the first few times can be a little bothersome.” She said rubbing his back a little.

After Harry had regained his bearings, Amy led him inside the pub taking the room keys from Tom the barman who had a few more teeth and slightly less wrinkles on his face.

“Well, this is your home for the rest of the summer. If you have any problem just owl me otherwise I will come next Thursday to escort you to the ministry for your OWLs. Goodbye then.” She spoke.

“Thanks Amy and Goodbye.” Harry wished her and sat on the bed enlarging his trunk and picking out a pair of pajamas to turn in for the night.

As Harry lay down on the bed he remembered the dream he had had the previous night as he had been too busy during the day to dwell on it that time.

‘What did they want to tell me? Have I really been so irresponsible? Have I really let them down?’ these were some of the questions rolling around in his head as he tried to figure out the meaning of the dream which tough looked very straightforward had raised many more questions than it had given answers to.

As Harry thought around these line he tried to view his life after the Hogwarts years from a third person prospective and it was not a good experience. As he tried to detach his pride and emotions from the memories and the verbal lashing that his parents had given him he could not help but feel frustrated from the lack of action that he had enforced as soon as he had went to Hogwarts. The slacking off, lazing about with Ron when it was clear that his life was on stake disgusted him and he could not help but feel that he deserved that sound lashing ‘a kick in the balls’ for his actions and determined to help make things different this time around.

He had a plan, a plan that would take him on a collision course with many a people if they tried to stop him. ‘It is a time to change things around’ was his last thought as Morpheus claimed him.

 


	3. Summer End 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the end of summer: part 1

 

Chapter 3

Summer’s End

* * *

 

Harry woke up quite refreshed and with a clear head. He had a basic plan of how he will influence the timeline but first he needed to better himself. A night of reviewing his life had made him realize that he had really been an ass and that some people just did not deserve his attention.

He took a quick shower, changed in his new clothes that actually fit him for a change and went downstairs for a quick breakfast. As it was quite early in the morning, the pub was almost empty. Harry ate his meal talking with Tom about the Alley as he was not supposed to know about it and learned that Knockturn Alley could provide him with very cheap and rare books and other items second hand.

He thanked Tom for the meal and advice and tapped the bricks as he had been told to reveal the alley and walked off in the direction of the dueling ring that he knew was there from his third year. He decided to get some dueling practice so he went in.

After nearly two hours a sweat covered and exhausted Harry stumbled out of the ring after having his arse handed to him by several auror aspirants. Though he had been beaten soundly by many of them, he had avoided majority of stronger and painful curses due to his reflexes and was beaten only due to slow spell casting, lack of duel practice in Hogwarts along with an inability to silently cast any spell except the **Lumos** which was not much help in dueling.

After taking about fifteen minutes to give him a rest he walked off in the direction of Flourish and Blotts bookstore where he started to look for books on Dueling, Animagus transformation, Occlumency and Silent casting. After he found the required books he was astounded to see that their combined price exceeded even 300 galleons and asked the manager about it.

“These books are Ministry controlled and pretty rare, kid; so they are steeply priced.” Manager informed him.

Harry thanked the annoyed looking manager and walked out of the store and walked in the direction of Knockturn alley. A hag tried to make a grab for him as soon as he walked into the shadier part of wizarding district but a well-placed severing charm ensured his safety.

Soon Harry reached a shop in front of Borgin and Burkes named Magike Obscurus. Upon walking into the shop he found that this shop dealt in every kind of rare, ministry controlled items. He asked the shopkeeper about the books section and started to search for the best there were on his required four subjects.

He found a book titled _‘Finding the Animal Within by Newt Salamander’_ , which he was told was the best book dealing with Animagus transformation. The only copies for _‘Dueling for Dummies by Orion Black II’, ‘Mind Arts for Dummies by Erebus Abbott’ and ‘Silent Casting for the Talkative by Percival Greengrass’_ were in pretty bad shape and were scribbled upon the margins by the previous owner but as they were the only ones there he had no choice but to buy them.

“How much for these?” Harry asked the shopkeeper who looked at the books for a moment and replied “70 Galleons”

“50 galleons”

“Sixty-five”

“Sixty-five and you give me your best book about warding and enchanting.”

The shopkeeper scowled and grumbled a bit but went inside and returned nearly ten minutes later with a tatty old tome that was starting to fall apart in places and smirked at him “Deal”

Harry paid for the books and made his way back to the Leaky Cauldron intent on learning all he could before he became busy with his OWLs. Eager to learn, Harry opened his Occlumency book and started perusing through it.

_Occlumency is the art of shielding one’s mind from external intrusion and sorting the memories to make the mind more organized. The first step in Occlumency is clearing one’s mind. To clear one’s mind is to achieve a state of nothingness; no thoughts must plague your mind. To attain such clarity first sit in a comfortable position, close your eyes and imagine a completely black space; as you encounter thoughts imagine them fading away into nothingness till your mind becomes clear of all thought._

Harry tried the exercise as the book had said and found it was quite easy to fade your thoughts away into nothingness but as soon as he reached the state of clarity, random thought or memory would pop up and ruin his concentration. As the time passed Harry’s frustration increased making it even more difficult to clear his mind. Finally, after nearly ninety minutes of struggle Harry gave up and decided to read the book again. As he opened the book his gaze fell on to the side notes created by the previous owner and read what it said.

_It is very difficult to keep the blackness as random thoughts start popping up, trying to focus on a single memory or thought with all the concentration helps._

Harry shrugged, ‘couldn’t hurt to try’ and again sat down on his bed in lotus position. This time he tried to focus on a single memory of him and Sirius fooling around in Grimmauld Place during Christmas but seeing Sirius brought back feelings of guilt, anger and sadness and Harry could not clear his mind at all. Again Harry tried, this time choosing his first Quidditch match as the memory to focus on, this worked and after nearly one hour he was able to solely focus on his catching the snitch for the first time. Opening the book once again, Harry thanked the previous owner and read more of his notes.

_Now imagine a burning candle and burn the image, and then put the candle out._

Harry again tried the advice and after nearly forty-five minutes succeeded in putting out the candle safely without any new thought popping in.

_Once you have achieved a clear mind for the first time, practice it again and again till you are able to clear your mind at a moment’s notice without needing to close your eyes. But remember, do not practice more than three-four hours a day, Occlumency is very taxing on both the body and magic and remember to have a full rest after each practice._

Harry looked at the watch in the room and was startled to find that it was almost eight o’ clock in the evening. ‘Time flies, I guess’.

Harry put the book away for the day and went downstairs for dinner; he was quite hungry and tired having missed the lunch and both dueling and Occlumency having tired him out. He cleared his mind for one final time and fell into a deep, dreamless slumber for the first time in nearly a month.

The rest of the week before his OWLs passed in a haze of studying for his OWLs and practicing Occlumency and Silent casting which was again made easier by the side notes and his training of Occlumency which helped him in visualizing the spell effect in great detail, something that was very important to be able to cast non-verbally. By the time his OWLs had arrived he could clear his mind in two minutes with his eyes open and his Silent casting was increasing by leaps and bounds.

Thursday arrived and Harry found himself walking through the ministry atrium with Amy to the Department of Magical Education which would conduct his exams. He had opted for OWL in Charms, Transfiguration, DADA, CoMC, Herbology, History of Magic, Potions, Runes and Arithmancy, it was the latter two that he found he had a knack for and with some serious study in Runic magic he was quite confident to at least get an ‘Exceeds Expectations’ in them.

Though today Harry was there for DADA theory and practical. The theory exam Harry was sure to have aced as he had read nothing but Defensive theory the last year in the pink toad’s reign. He had a break of about half an hour before Practical and he was quite looking forward to it.

Harry entered the designated room and found it empty; he was just looking around when his instincts screamed for him to dive only to see a red light striking where he had been standing mere moments ago.

“Good reflexes, kid” came a voice which scared Harry more than Voldemort himself ever did as the examiner removed his disillusionment charm.

‘Shite, Moody my examiner! I am so fucked.’ Harry thought miserably at the sight of a manically grinning Mad-Eye Moody who had slightly less scars on his face but looked no less gruesome.

“Mr. Jacobs, I think that the best way to assess your standing in DADA is a duel, don’t you?” Moody spoke and without waiting for an answer continued “Stand over that red line, that’s it.” Moody himself took position on the blue line. “Now on three; one, two, three, begin…”

An exhausted but happy Harry stumbled out of the room grumbling under his breath about mad examiners and way too paranoid old buggers.

The rest of the OWLs passed in the same vein and Harry was confident to have gotten enough to fulfill his dream of being an auror.

As he had quite a bit of free time between the examinations and results, he decided to increase his prowess with non-verbal spell casting and try to make some progress with Animagus transformation.

The first step to Animagus transformation was to ‘see’ the magical core and to move even further from it.

_In order to view one’s magical core; meditate and concentrate on the ‘feel’ of your magic. Try to visualize yourself moving in the direction of the place with the highest concentration of magic. Every individual has a unique core but most of the persons imply it to be a shining ball or a crackling fire or even a water body._

Harry meditated as he had done countless times in his Occlumency training and after some effort to try and grasp the ‘feel of his magic was able to view his magical core. It was not some ball or fire; rather it was an endless stretch of water with a ball of fire suspended just above the surface, as Harry tried to move towards it to investigate his senses were overpowered by the feeling of evil and darkness that made him lose his concentration and come out of the trance.

‘What the hell was that?’ the best Harry could guess was that it felt like when Voldemort had touched him in the graveyard; that was not a happy thought. ‘Fuck, I have something of Voldemort’s inside me.’

Harry decided to leave this alone as he did not know much about his connection with Voldemort. ‘Only Dumbledore can answer such questions.’

But this provided another dilemma-‘what to do with Dumbledore? Can he be trusted not to act first and worse not to memory charm Harry right if he be told of his journey in time? Nothing is ever easy, even in the past I am unable to do anything without Dumbledore’s help.’

Fortunately, when the same problem arose in Occlumency, Harry was able to solve it in a unique way.

Harry had finally achieved the clarity of mind required and was moving to sort his memories. After he had done with sorting all the memories, he found himself in a room filled with neatly organized bookshelves, the only noticeable thing about the room was that it did not have any walls and there was a sickly green Lightning bolt hanging there. Harry knew instinctively that it was the link between him and Voldemort. ‘Bloody scar can’t leave me alone even in my own mind.’

As Harry imagined walls building brick by brick around the whole room, he tried to block off the scar only to find that it constantly and very quickly ate away at the wall no matter what he tried; so Harry decided to block off all his mind and then erect a separate chamber for the link while he also put a block between the ocean and the fire and found that doing so decreased the rate of decay of shield to almost non-existent in short periods of time as opposed to the almost instant decay before.

His birthday both old and new ones spent in anonymity. Only a card from the DOM (Rubbing it in, can’t leave me alone, can they?) on his new birthday (5 August) was any indication of his presence as far as the greetings were concerned.

His original birthday was spent in much of the same fashion as it had spent at the Dursley household before Hogwarts, alone and without any gifts; though he was very shocked to see the whole part at the Leaky Cauldron celebrating the birthday of the boy-who-lived.

Harry decided to give his younger self a birthday gift though and bought Hedwig from the Eeylops Owl Emporium and paid a visit to the Dursleys.

**Flashback begins**

_Mark booked a cab for Little Whinging, Surrey and started towards the Durzkaban, as he liked to call it. It was a Sunday as well as his birthday and he wanted to give Harry the best birthday present he could. His musings for what he would do to his ‘loving relatives’ kept him busy till he reached the front door of 4, Privet Drive._

_He knocked at the door which was opened by young Harry who was looking like favoring his left leg._

_“H-Hello! Wh-who are you?” Harry asked._

_“Hello, may I speak to Mr. Dursley?”_

_“Just a minute” Harry said and rushed inside to fetch his uncle._

_Uncle Vernon arrived and by the looks of it he was in the process of stuffing his face and thus was looking quite angry._

_“Hello, Mr. Dursley, I presume?” Mark asked._

_“Yes, I am; what do you want?” Vernon asked without the barest hint of politeness turning a shade darker red at the sight of his blue hair._

_“I am Mark Jacobs, junior auror, DMLE; I am here to discuss the living conditions of young Mr. Harry Potter. I was informed that he lived here and I was given a job to make him ready for Hogwarts as he would be joining the next year.” Mark made on the spot but by the rapid paling of Vernon’s face he had chosen the right buttons to push._

_“P-P-Petunia, Petunia.” He called looking ready to faint._

_Petunia Dursley arrived looking like she was some lady of a manor and failing rather spectacularly at it. (“Even crazy Bellatrix would do a better job than her.”)_

_“What is it Vernon?” she asked her husband who just pointed at Mark; she too scrunched her nose up at his blue hair._

_“Hello, Mrs. Dursley; I am Mark Jacobs, junior auror, DMLE; I am here to tell Mr. Potter about his heritage as he will be rejoining us from next year.” Mark told her without giving her a chance to say anything._

_“Y-you are one of t-them…” she said faintly and then regaining her composure, “Freaks, out, out” and tried to shut the door on his face._

_A wave of his wand stopped the door and gave Vernon the opportunity to voice his thoughts aloud. “I will not have any of your unnaturalness here.” The commotion had brought Dudley and Harry in the living room and Mark just could not resist baiting Vernon further._

_“Unnaturalness? I am nowhere unnatural; you on the other hand, I can’t imagine any natural way that a walrus breed with a horse to berth a mini-whale, can you Harry?” Mark asked Harry who blushed and looked down but the corners of his mouth went upwards themselves._

_It took a moment for the Dursleys to realize that they had been insulted thoroughly by a ‘freak’ in their own house in front of their unnatural relative but their moment to respond to the insult was stolen by the same blue haired freak._

_“Now; if you don’t have any problems, I am going to talk to Harry for a bit.” Mark spoke pleasantly._

_Yes they had many problems but they were not given any chance to list them as Mark waved his wand once more hitting the trio with a full body bind. It was a technique he had learned from Voldemort as he had sent three curses at him with just a slight motion of his wand without even trying Mark could do only three though but he was getting better._

_“Now Harry, why don’t you show me your room?” Mark said already knowing that Harry lived in the Cupboard under the stairs but that would help keep his appearance up._

_Harry did not move just eyed the Dursleys subtly which Mark caught on and reassured him, “No need to fear Harry, they won’t do anything.”_

_Sure enough Harry took him to the Cupboard and pointed at it saying, “This is my room, sir.”_

_“That won’t do, that won’t do at all.” Mark murmured and asked if they could talk somewhere._

_Harry took him out of the house and to the park; Mark made an extra effort to remain unseen by Mrs. Figg._

_“So, Harry; I am sure that you have a lot of questions; so why don’t you start, I will try to answer as many as I can.” Mark said when they had reached the park._

_“How did you paralyze the Dursleys?”_

_“Magic”_

_“Magic is real?”_

_A nod._

_“My parents had magic?”_

_Another nod._

_“I have magic?”_

_Again, another nod. Harry looked disbelieving._

_“Yes, you have magic Harry; can’t you think of instances where things happened because you just wanted them to?” Mark asked with a smile._

_Harry thought for nearly five minutes before his face brightened up._

_“Wait, they knew; they were always saying me unnatural or a freak?” Harry exclaimed angrily._

_“Yes, they did; they hate it, that’s why they lied to you.”_

_“So, what is Hogwarts?”_

_“A school where they teach magic, your parents went there too and you will too after you get your letter at your next birthday.”_

_“Do you know how my parents died; ‘they’ said they died in a car crash.”_

_“Your parents were great people, Harry; they died because a very bad wizard killed them and they fought him. When he killed your mother she invoked an ancient protection for you, so when he tried to kill you with **AVADA KEDAVRA** , that’s the un-blockable killing curse, it backfired on him destroying his body. That’s why you are famous; they call you the Boy-who-Lived in the wizarding world. Your parents are almost as famous as you.”_

_“I don’t want to be famous for something my mother did.” Harry mumbled with tears streaming from his eyes but Mark still heard him._

_“Sadly, Harry that’s the way the (wizarding) world works, they needed a hero, and they made you a hero. You will learn to deal with it after a while.”_

_“So about my parents, did you know them?”_

_“Sorry, no; I was very young when they died and I did not even know about you till I entered the wizarding world, my parents were both non-magical. But, from the photos I have seen, you look just like your father, James Potter, while you have your mother’s, Lily Potter’s, eyes”_

_Harry’s face lighted up at this bit of news and they talked about magical world for a while. Mark treated him to lunch at a restaurant nearby and again took him to the park to talk a bit more. It was nearing evening when Mark decided to give Harry his present, a photograph of his parents._

_“Listen Harry, I am not an auror; in fact I am still in school, I lied to your relatives to help you.” Mark said._

_“How did you know that they did not like me?” Harry asked suddenly skeptical of this nice boy._

_Mark saw the apprehension in Harry’s eyes and immediately thought of a lie, “I saw your aunt yelling at you while you were shopping, your clothes were too big for you and you were awfully small for your age; I guessed and thought of a way to help you. I mean you no harm.”_

_Harry nodded a little less skeptical but still not trusting him fully and Mark sighed, he knew Harry would not trust him immediately._

_“This is Hedwig, she will inform me if they do not treat you well; just don’t mention her to them, she will be keeping tabs on you; I will be coming every three or four days till September so don’t be afraid, okay.” Mark said introducing Harry to Hedwig who took a shine to him immediately._

_“Well, bye then.” Mark said awkwardly. ‘Geez can’t even talk to myself normally.’_

_“Bye, and thanks for everything.” Harry said hugging him a little bit before blushing and walking away but Mark applied a disillusionment charm on himself and followed him; he would not put it past the Dursleys to harm Harry as soon as he reached home._

_Sure enough as soon as Harry stepped inside the door was shut and a loud smack reverberated in the house. Mark was pissed, ’they dare hit him’; that was something they had not done in his timeline._

_“ **Expulso”** Mark cried and the door blew off its hinges. Vernon was raising another fist as Mark spoke “ **Ossis Rupto, Fracta”** there were twin snaps and both his arms fell broken and useless. “ **Silencio** ” and the three Dursleys were unable to say a thing._

_“You okay, Harry?” Mark asked and Harry just nodded shakily._

_“ **Episkey** ” and the bruise formed on his cheek disappeared, this was the only healing spell he knew of and it worked well for him for small injuries._

_“Now listen up you bastards, you treat Harry badly anymore and I will give you far more than a broken hand. That means you give him his own room, let him eat anything and in the quantity he wants, minimal chores and no abuse at all. Am I clear?” Mark thundered on them and they all nodded furiously._

_“I will be watching you closely; and you Dudley, no Harry hunting from now on, understand?” Dudley did not respond and Mark hit him with an overpowered stinging hex right between the legs making him yelp, “Understand?” Dudley nodded with fat tears rolling down his cheeks._

_“Harry take your things, I am going to give you a new room.”_

_Harry nodded and ran towards his cupboard as Mark waited at the foot of the stairs trying to calm himself._

_Mark took him to the smallest bedroom and vanished most of Dudley’s crap. “This will be Harry’s room.” He said to Petunia, who had followed them, she just nodded._

_A few **Reparos** and Harry had some toys to play with. “ **Diato Cella** ” Mark intoned and the room expanded a bit. Luckily there was a bed already in the room and another **Reparo** made it as good as new._

_“Can’t I stay anywhere else?” Harry asked in a small voice._

_“Sorry, Harry; but that bad wizard had many followers who are still roaming free. They would find and kill you if they get the chance but here there are protections invoked by your mother make you perfectly safe as long as you are living with ‘them’.” Mark explained knowing that it was a weak explanation but it will have to do._

_“I will talk to your relatives a bit more, so this is goodbye; you can always reach me through Hedwig if you need any help. Bye Harry.”_

_“Bye, Mark”_

_Mark walked downstairs and pulled Petunia aside. “Now listen here lady, you will get him new clothes, clothes that actually fit him. And you will not abuse him in any way, do this and you will continue getting the stipend; abuse him and you lose your money.” Mark had guessed at the stipend, ‘Albus Dumbledore will not just throw a child at them without providing means for his proper care’ and knew he was right when Petunia paled and nodded._

_“What about Vernon, what did you do to him?” she asked when he was about to leave._

_“Him? He has broken bones, ‘sadly’ my healing spells are not so good so he will have to heal the muggle way.” Mark replied without an ounce of sincerity in his voice. ‘Bastard deserves much more.’_

**Flashback ends**

Three days later when he visited Harry again, he greeted him with a huge smile and hope shining in his eyes.

‘Would have to deal with Dumbledore earlier than I thought, but worth it.’ Indeed the smile on Harry’s face had been worth it.

 


	4. Summer End 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the end of the summer: part 2

**Previous chapter**

_Three days later when he visited Harry again, he greeted him with a huge smile and hope shining in his eyes._

_‘Would have to deal with Dumbledore earlier than I thought, but worth it.’ Indeed the smile on Harry’s face had been worth it._

* * *

 

Harry was interrupted in his musings by the arrival of a brown owl through his window. The owl was carrying two letters.

Harry took the letters and noticed that one had a M.O.M. seal on it while the other had Hogwarts seal on it. Harry opened the ministry letter first and found that it contained his owl results.

**OWL RESULTS FOR MR. MARK JACOBS**

**Grades –**

**O – Outstanding**

**E – Exceeds Expectations**

**A – Acceptable**

**P – Poor**

**D – Dreadful**

**T – Troll**

**Mr. Mark Jacobs has achieved**

**Defence Against the Dark Arts – O+ ***

**Transfiguration – O**

**Potions – O**

**Charms – O**

**Herbology – E**

**Care of Magical Creatures – E**

**Ancient Runes – E**

**Arithmancy – E**

**Astronomy – A**

**History of Magic – D**

Congratulations Mr. Jacobs, you have achieved 9 OWLs; if you have any queries or arguments, please contact the Department of Education within a week of receiving this letter.

Yours sincerely

Griselda Marchbanks

Head Examiner

Department of Education

Ministry of Magic

* Note from Master Auror Moody – You will make a damn fine auror kid, just keep it up - Alastor Moody

**The list of classes Mr. Jacobs is eligible to take –**

**Defence Against the Dark Arts**

**Transfiguration**

**Charms**

**Potions**

**Herbology**

**Ancient Runes**

**Arithmancy**

**Care of Magical Creatures**

**Electives –**

**Apparition**

**Healing**

Kindly choose the classes you wish to take and send your owl to the Headmaster of Hogwarts within two weeks of receiving this letter.

‘Did I just imagine that note or did Moody compliment me, not Harry Potter; but Mark Jacobs, a nobody.’ Harry thought happily and quickly read the note once more confirming it that he was not imagining things.

‘That’s strange; I can swear the handwriting on the note is the same as those books.’ Harry thought while looking at the note, he went to his trunk and pulled out his Occlumency book and matched the writing of the side-notes with the one on the letter and found it to be identical. ‘I picked up Moody’s books!’ Harry thanked his lucky stars and made a mental note to study from the notes more; after all the man is known for his paranoia.

Harry marked DADA, Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, Runes, Arithmancy, Apparition and Healing for his sixth year and put the parchment aside; he then opened the Hogwarts letter and found his book list and a letter from McGonagall.

_Dear Mr. Jacobs,_

_I am pleased to inform you that you have been accepted as a student of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for sixth and seventh years. Enclosed is a booklet for school rules and charter._

_Please report at the Headmaster’s office on 29 August at 5’o clock in the evening for sorting into your new house. The floo password is ‘Cadbury’._

_Yours sincerely_

_Minerva McGonagall_

_Deputy Headmistress_

_Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

_Enclosed: i) Hogwarts Charter_

_ii) Book list for sixth year students_

Harry reread the letter twice; he would face his toughest test of convincing Dumbledore and the other teachers in less than a month’s time; granted they would not be naturally suspicious of him being the Boy-Who-Lived but it would not do well to gather too much attention to himself.

He decided to work further on his Occlumency and his accent as that had been a major problem for him to face as many people had pointed out he did not sound American at all. He got off his bed and decided to visit the muggle library a few blocks away from the Cauldron. ‘Maybe they would have some books to help actors.’ He thought to himself with a groan.

As it turned out they did have a book on accents of various type and Harry performed a quick and discrete copying charm to copy its contents on a notebook. He exited the library after wandering through the aisles for a while and reading the newspaper to while away some time to smother any suspicion from the strict librarian.

By the time 29 August came around, Harry was moderately proficient in Occlumency and had an accent that could be explained away as trying to pick up the British one. While his Occlumency shield would not hold against Dumbledore or even Snape, they were enough to make him aware of their snooping around and afford him some time to distract them.

At around 5’o clock he walked downstairs in the pub and towards the fireplace.

‘Here goes nothing then.’ “Headmaster’s Office, Hogwarts. Cadbury.” He spoke clearly and threw a pinch of floo powder into the fire and stepped in as it turned green.

Harry stumbled out on the other end and was very lucky not to fall flat on his arse. Dumbledore’s office looked the same as it had looked at the end of his fifth year, the only difference being the greater number of odd trinkets and the absence of the Sword of Gryffindor and its case. As Fawkes the phoenix noticed him it flew on his shoulder and trilled a happy greeting, Harry just rubbed its feathers as Dumbledore’s twinkle went into overdrive. When he was looking around he noticed that the Headmaster was not alone, he was accompanied by Snape, McGonagall, Flitwick and Sprout. ‘What are they doing here?’

“Um, Hello!” he spoke awkwardly.

“Hello, Mr. Jacobs; welcome to Hogwarts.” Dumbledore greeted him in his usual fashion.

His confusion must have shown on his face as Dumbledore spoke further “Let us get the introductions out of the way first, this is Professor Minerva McGonagall” he said waving towards McGonagall who nodded with a small smile as Harry bowed slightly; “she is the head of Gryffindor house and teaches transfiguration.” Waving towards Snape who had sneered at the mention of Gryffindor, Dumbledore continued, “This is Professor Severus Snape, he is the head of Slytherin house and teaches potions.” Snape just gave a curt nod and Harry greeted back with just that making Snape scowl even more. ‘Not going to bow to you Snivellus.’

“This is Professor Filius Flitwick, head of Ravenclaw house and the resident charms master.” Dumbledore continued waving towards the short half-goblin who smiled widely and bowed back to Harry who had bowed to him. “And finally, this is Professor Pomona Sprout, head of Hufflepuff house and teacher of Herbology at Hogwarts.” Dumbledore finished waving towards Sprout who received a small bow of respect from Harry.

“Hello, professors; I am Mark Jacobs, I am a Muggleborn as they say here and I completed my fifth year from the Salem Wizarding Academy in the States.” Harry spoke figuring some sort of introduction was required.

“Now, if you would please, Mr. Jacobs, take a seat. The sorting will be done by putting the Sorting hat on your head.” Dumbledore spoke. Harry knew that of course but to keep up appearances raised an eyebrow in curiosity, Dumbledore merely twinkled back.

McGonagall put the hat on his head and the last thing he saw before his eyes were covered was a sneering Snape trying to look disinterested.

Harry felt a pressure on his Occlumency shields for a moment before the hat spoke completely bypassing them, “Hello, Mr. Jacobs; or should I say Harry Potter. Doing a bit of time travel I see.”

“How did you do that?” Harry asked referring to the hat’s bypassing of his shields like they weren’t even there.

“Telepathy; one of the branches of magic that the founders made me proficient in.”

“You would keep the information about my time-travel confidential, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes, however I must say I am quite disappointed as to how you have rushed into situations without the vestiges of a plan; Godric and Salazar would burn me in Fiendfyre if I even suggest that you go into their house.” The hat began much like Dumbledore did when he was disappointed and finished in a very angry voice.

“Good to see you have some sense knocked into your head before coming here; nice work on the oath though if I say so myself. But, be careful boy, do not try to change so much that your knowledge of future prove inadequate, you are an average wizard at best and it would not do you any good to lose this advantage.” The hat continued.

Harry just nodded mentally. ‘What was it that after he came to past everybody was jumping to bash him?’ apparently his thoughts were heard by the hat as it growled “we are just pointing out the obvious boy, if it had not been for the Dark Lord’s arrogance; you would have been dead five times by now.

“Okay, okay; but can we continue with the sorting?”

“I guess, but pay heed to my warning boy; now sorting, hmm… Gryffindor and Slytherin are out; Ravenclaw is not for you, that means Hufflepuff, what do you say?”

“Would be nice, I need a lot of hard work to fulfill my goals.”

“That you do, don’t trust anyone blindly and listen to your instincts. You should do well in HUFFLEPUFF” the hat shouted the last part out loud and there was a small applause. The hat was lifted off his face and he saw Snape stalking out looking like a bat and could not help but ask innocently, “Is he a bat Animagus?”

Dumbledore chuckled as did Flitwick and Sprout, McGonagall tried to look disapproving but her lips twitched upwards ever so slightly but no one offered him any answer; Snape too had heard him as was evident from the sudden stiffening of his shoulders but did not retort back.

The other teachers were leaving the office and Sprout spoke, “I look forward to see you in Hufflepuff house, Mr. Jacobs.”

Soon after he was leaving for the Leaky Cauldron leaving a headmaster in anticipation of another year and contemplating the strange behaviour of one of the many trinkets set upon one Harry James Potter.

September arrived son after his sorting and at 10 o’ clock Harry could be seen walking towards the Hogwarts Express on platform nine and three-quarters. He chose a compartment at the middle of the train and locked it adding a notice-me-not after deciding to work further on his Occlumency shields or more precisely, traps one Legilimens would find if they attacked him.

Harry thought about all his previous adventures with Legilimency and one moment stood out in detail, when he had used Protego; Snape’s attack was reflected back onto him and Harry had been able to get a glimpse in his mind. Now he only had to reproduce the effects every time someone tried to attack him. He pondered about it and found his answer, ‘Runes’ he thought victoriously.

Runes can be used to replicate a spell effect along with equations created using Arithmancy; he would have to find the runic array required for Protego spell and apply it on all parts of his mind shields, if anything it would provide his opponents with some distraction.

Also another thing Moody said in his notes was to put the memories in a mindscape, a location or place where you are the most comfortable and most familiar with, but that would require very large amount of time as he would have to build it brick by brick and cannot be done where someone might interrupt him.

Speak of interruption, he was startled when the door to his compartment was opened by a girl looking same age as him, she had lavender eyes, was quite tall and lightly tanned skin with green hair which reminded him of Tonks.

“Hello! Can I sit here?”

“Hi, Sure”

“I haven’t seen you around here before, new?” she asked after settling her trunk on the shelf.

“Yes, I have just transferred from Salem Wizarding Academy, so yes, I am new here.” Harry replied.

“Oh, where are my manners, I am Tonks.” She spoke extending her hand.

‘Tonks! I had no idea she was this young.’ Harry thought, “I am Mark, Mark Jacobs.” Harry spoke doing his best not to look at her in remembrance.

Thankfully she didn’t pry much about his reasons for transfer and they spent some time talking about Hogwarts, apparently Tonks was in Hufflepuff and was going in her sixth year and promised to show him around the castle on the weekend.

“Is there a reason you were using a notice-me-not on the door?” she asked after some time.

“Uh… no, I just didn’t want any company.” Harry replied while inwardly his respect and appreciation for Tonks increased even more. She was the first person around his age in the past that had understood him about not wanting his fame and had thrown off the effects of the notice-me-not, so she had to have a strong will.

“I can take it off if you want.” Harry offered.

“No, keep it in place, I don’t feel like much company either.” She said and they resumed talking about classes and such. After some time she finished the charm to allow the cart lady to get in the compartment while Harry wondered about her power **[1]**. It was some time later that the door was opened rather forcefully by a redhead and Harry was left having flashbacks of his first train ride to Hogwarts.

This redhead however did not pay any attention to hi and spoke to Tonks directly in very insulting manner. “Nymphadora, here you are; I was looking for you everywhere.”

“Don’t call me that, Charlie; and why would you be looking for me.” Tonks snapped in an angry tone her hair taking an angry red tinge.

‘Charlie? Charlie Weasley?’ Harry thought, ‘he looks like Malfoy has beaten me in a Quidditch match.’

“We are together; it’s natural that you would sit with me on the train.” Charlie spoke with arrogance dripping off his words.

“We are not together Charlie Weasley, we have not been together since May.” Tonks almost growled.

‘Yep, definitely Charlie Weasley.’

“Surely you aren’t still angry about that; I said sorry.” Charlie spoke insincerely while Harry tried not to pay much attention to their conversation but his curiosity got the better of him, thankfully Tonks did not notice.

“Yes, I am Charlie; now leave me alone.” Tonks made it quite certain by picking up her book and paying no heed to Charlie.

Charlie, on the other hand turned red, unlike Ron whose ears turned red in anger or embarrassment, his entire face changed colour. The famous Weasley stubbornness showed as he tried to grab Tonks’ hand forcefully to make her look at him but before Harry could interfere Tonks had slapped him hard on the face. Charlie was just going for his wand when a silent banisher from Tonks swept him out of the compartment followed by a locking charm on the door which Harry did not quite recognize.

Tonks looked quite upset with the turn of events but Harry did not know how to approach her and remained silent, this did not go unnoticed by Tonks who just smiled at him slightly and tried to compose herself.

“That was Charlie Weasley, we were dating and broke up last year.” She said as a way of explanation and Harry understood her plea to forget the matter and just nodded.

The rest of the train ride was spent reading or talking more about mundane matters and just fooling around. Harry, not having spent much time in Tonks’ company in the past was not quite sure how to talk to her but found that she was quite easygoing, fun and it was easy to be friends with her.

Soon they reached Hogsmeade station and got off the train. As they were walking towards the thestral drawn carriages, whispers started around them but for once they were not for Harry, they were for Tonks, people were blatantly pointing at her talking in hushed tones about her but some girls were quite vocal in expressing their views and words like ‘harlot’ and ‘slut’ reached his ears. Harry glanced in her direction and was surprised to see her looking like he had many times when he was vilified in the past. She was keeping her head down and looking ahead, something that he used to do very often in the past.

‘From what he knew of Tonks from his time she was not a person to let the opinion of other people matter to her and affect her; she was definitely not the type of person that the mutterers were making her out to be. He stole another glance at her and knew that the words and whispers were upsetting her and only concluded that her friends had abandoned her too so just gave her a small pat on the back and squeezed her shoulder in a silent show of support. Tonks just gave him another small smile, her eyes though betrayed her surprise and little suspicion and Harry was quite sure that she was treated much like himself by the sheeple of Hogwarts.

Finally, they reached the carriages and stepped in one, Harry put a silencing charm in it to stop the sounds of muttering from the other students. He turned to look at Tonks and was surprised to see her looking almost lost, as if she was unsure what to do with herself. Even in the brief time he had known her she had always tried to cheer everyone up and was always full of life; he could remember the subway ride after the attack on Mr. Weasley, only she had picked up on his angry mood and had tried her best to cheer him up and at the same time managed not to irritate him despite his mood.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Huh…” she said worrying him even more.

“Are you alright?”

“Y-yeah I am fine. Thanks.”

Harry just looked at her in confusion and she just waved her hand around the carriage indicating the silencing charm.

“No problem, that’s what friends are for.” He said as he figured out what she had meant. She just looked at him suspiciously and a bit surprised before nodding.

Not knowing what else to do and not to offend her Harry just sat there looking out but made a mental note to find out what had happened to make her so…lifeless and tried to cheer her up but did not know how to. Finally, he decided to poke some fun at everyone’s favourite potions master, Snape.

“Hey, do you think Snape is a bat Animagus?”

She did not react much but the corners of her lips turned upwards very slightly so Harry tried to follow up with more even though he was having a very hard time to think up anymore jokes. Still, when the carriages stopped, she had cheered up somewhat as was evident from her hair gaining a little lustre.

“Thanks.” She spoke softly.

This state however, did not last for more than a few minutes because the Great Hall was again abuzz with murmurs as soon as she entered, though the presence of teachers forced the students to keep their voices low.

Tonks took a seat at the very end of Hufflepuff table and Harry sat right next to her; seeing her sad face, Harry could not help but share his mantra at these kinds of situations with her, “You know they are wrong, whatever they think of you doesn’t make any difference, you know you are different from that and that’s what matters.” Harry spoke giving her shoulder another squeeze as they concentrated on the sorting.

Tonks looked strangely at him for a moment before nodding but she had a slightly happier look on her face and could not help but think that this kind of understanding comes only when the other person has been in similar situations. ‘Is that why he transferred here?’ she thought but decided to keep this quiet till they became better friends.

The sorting took place the same as in Harry’s time; the only recognizable names being that of Cho Chang and Marietta Edgecombe, both of them being sorted into Ravenclaw as they had in Harry’s time. Dumbledore made his usual speech with the same announcements as ever; the only thing that looked out of place being the empty chair for DADA teacher.

‘Did he not manage to find a DADA teacher this time?’ Just as Harry thought this the doors of the great hall were slammed open and standing there was Alastor ‘Mad Eye’ Moody; he swiftly made his way towards the head table pausing for a moment to rap Harry with his cane to make his jaw snap shut. He made almost the same entrance as the fake Moody had in his fourth year. The thought was enough to give Harry shivers.

“Ah, looks like our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher has arrived; students, I welcome Alastor Moody to Hogwarts.” Dumbledore spoke with a grand wave towards Moody who just nodded. There was silence in the hall for nearly a minute before Harry and strangely enough, Tonks started clapping which set the other students off too.

The opening feast soon ended with the same notices as Harry’s time and Harry followed Tonks to the entrance to Hufflepuff common room. The Hufflepuff common room was located on the first floor just a corridor apart from the kitchens and in order to enter the students had to tap some barrels in a specific order.

The inside of the common room was quite homey feeling with many couches and loveseats lying around decorated with yellow and black colours. It was simple without any extravagance that was displayed in Gryffindor or Slytherin common rooms.

Professor Sprout came for a chat with the first year students and explained the rules for curfew while putting influence that they were always welcome to her office in case of any problems.

There were introductions all around as obviously Harry was a new student so to speak, he found that there were three other boys and five girls in his year apart from Tonks but they did not talk much. Soon it was the time to depart to the dorms and Harry found Tonks looking at him strangely again.

“Good night, Tonks; see you tomorrow at breakfast?”

“Night Mark, see you tomorrow.” Tonks spoke with a nod and departed to the sixth year girls’ dormitory.

The Hufflepuff dormitories had private rooms for the students with minimal decoration adding to the homely feel of the common room while giving the students enough privacy and Harry found himself liking it even more than the Gryffindor one.

Harry soon fell asleep after performing his Occlumency exercise and sorting his memories just a little troubled by the animosity that Tonks was facing in the school.

The next morning Harry woke up quite early and completed his morning rituals. He decided to wait for Tonks at the breakfast so he made his way to the great hall. He was surprised to see almost all the sixth year Hufflepuffs sans Tonks already there. He made his way to the tale and sat next to a brown haired boy named Alex Nigel. He ate his breakfast slowly in silence trying to last until Tonks came by, he could see one or two of the students trying to speak to him but they did not causing him to ask “What?”

Finally Alex, who was apparently the spokesperson of the group, spoke, “Hello Mark, how are you?”

“Hi, I am good, thank you.” Harry replied though he had sensed that it was not what Alex had wanted to say to him.

Alex continued after a while, “Good, look; I am trying to warn you for your own good, don’t spend too much time around that Tonks girl.” He spoke as the others in the group nodded vehemently.

“Why?” Harry asked barely keeping his anger in check, it was almost like Seamus had tried to get Dean too speak talking to him last year.

“Because she is a slag, she is a slut who seduces people by using her powers and gets rid of them when she gets bored.” This time a blonde that Harry could remember being Callista Smith from the previous evening spoke.

“And exactly how do you know it?” Harry asked in a forced calm voice.

“The whole school knows it; it is public knowledge that she dumped Charlie Weasley after bedding him last year.” The blonde spoke more forcefully apparently gaining courage by his calm tones.

“And you took his words to heart, why miss; if I spread that you are a prostitute in Knockturn alley in the summers, would that make you one?” Harry asked knowing it was low but he had enough of these people slandering his friend.

The blonde flushed a bright red in rage and embarrassment alike but did not speak further. “You people disgust me, turning against one of your own just because someone popular said something about them, you are in the House of Loyal for Merlin’s sake.” Harry finished his rant almost shouting.

What he did not know that Tonks had entered the hall when the girl was calling her a ‘slut’ and that Professor Sprout had heard the whole conversation after that.

“Very well said, Mr. Jacobs; take thirty points to Hufflepuff for loyalty towards your friend, and you all ten points apiece from Hufflepuff for calling fellow student foul names, also a detention to each of you with Professor Snape or Filch for the rest of the week. Rest assured Ms. Tonks, this will not be happening again. I expect better behaviour from my ‘puffs.” Sprout spoke from behind Harry making him jump a little but as she spoke to Tonks he could not help but pale in fear. ‘If I was in her place I would be cursing me for daring to speak in my matter.’ Thankfully Tonks did not curse him just nodded at Sprout and gave him a small smile.

Harry took his plate and moved next to Tonks who spoke her thanks in a subdued voice and they ate breakfast in silence quickly finishing it.

After breakfast, Tonks kept her promise to Harry to show him around the school and they explored the castle, she had quite a bit of the knowledge of secret passageways that were normally not known to the other students, Harry knew them only due to the Marauder’s Map, thinking of which, he had to take the map from Filch before the twins or it would show Harry Potter roaming around the castle.

According to the twins, they had gotten the map in their second year just a week after the school started so he would have to work fast, so engrossed he was in his thoughts that he missed Tonks’ warning about a trick staircase and tripped as she tried to yank him causing both of them to fall on each other only a quick freezing charm saving them from falling down the stairs.

Harry blushed heavily when he realized that he was on top of Tonks in a very suggestive position, he quickly got off her when she finished the charm and stammered apologies. Tonks too blushed a faint red and waved him off; both deciding that they had explored enough and went to great hall for dinner.

Later that night Harry laid on his bed thinking about Tonks, he was definitely attracted to her and what was more, she did not cause him to get tongue-tied around her nor any butterflies in his stomach. But he did not know how to handle this situation with someone who he knew in the past and had interacted with; pushing that to the back of his mind he let sleep claim him dreaming of the pink haired Metamorph auror from his time.

 **[1]** To remove a charm or curse, if the person is someone who has not applied the magic ie not the castor, then they have to spen greater amount of power to remove the magic and Harry is the most powerful sixth year around so...


	5. Settling In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry (Mark) starts to settle in the new timeline... forms friendships, rivalries, etc...

Chapter 5

Settling In

Harry woke up on Monday quite early, casting a Tempus charm by his wand he groaned as it showed that it was only 4 o’ clock in the morning. ‘That’s too bloody early.’ he thought angrily but resigned that he would not fall asleep again. Sighing he got up from the four poster bed and decided that he would start an exercise regime to keep him in shape as he knew he had nowhere near stamina to last in a long duel and remembered what Sirius had said to him _“Remember Harry, a fit body and mind means fit magic; also dodging is less taxing on your body and magic than shielding.”_ This was one of the rare times at 12, Grimmauld Place that he had the chance to talk to his Godfather and soon after they were interrupted by Mrs. Weasley, something which angered Harry to no end.

Still he decided to take Sirius’ advice to heart and decided that he would start to exercise daily. He did not know about many exercises that could help him but figured that running laps and doing exercises that Oliver Wood made them do during training would suffice. With this thought in mind he exited the deserted common room and walked off in the direction of the Black Lake and started to run laps around it.

By the time he had finished his third lap he was breathing very heavily and his legs were on fire, he decided to rest for a few minutes before doing other exercises. Half an hour later Harry was lying on the shore of the lake panting; his muscles felt like they were being ripped apart from all the stretches and he was aching all over.

Grunting, he got up and limped off in the direction of the Common Room to grab a shower and wait for Tonks to come before heading to breakfast. He took a long hot shower which somewhat soothed his aches and relaxed his sore muscles and decided to brew some muscle relaxing potion as well if he were to follow up on his workout regime.

Tonks came in the common room after about twenty minutes of waiting during which he had to suffer glares from the sixth years he had helped put in detention yesterday. She was a little surprised to see him there but smiled a bit when he greeted her.

“Hey Tonks, ready for breakfast?” Harry greeted.

“Mornin’ Mark, let’s go.” Tonks said with a slight smile in his direction and even giggled a bit when he did some horrible imitation of a noble knight full with extravagant bows and gestures.

Still, there was something forced about the way she laughed; it was hidden very well but Harry could spot it because basically he had been practicing the same around his friends for past five years, this made him all the more determined to bring back the girl who could light up the whole room with her never faltering smile and more importantly, help the girl that had understood him completely by one question and had tried to help him even when he had been rude with her.

They ate their breakfast in silence though Harry tried to engage Tonks in some kind of conversation but not being one to speak much himself he was at a loss as to what he should talk to her about. Finally, he decided on the main point of his conversations with Ron, Quidditch. It turned out that Tonks was an avid Quidditch fan and a fanatic supporter of the Harpies and soon they had an amiable conversation going on about the various techniques. Harry was glad to see that she had a huge arsenal of techniques and plays and was content to pay attention to her as for the first time that he had come to past, he noticed her truly happy and carefree for once.

After the meal was over Professor Sprout came down from the head table to hand their schedules to them and Harry was very happy to know that Tonks had the identical schedule as his; the first class that they had that day was DADA with Slytherins and both were looking forward to it; Harry in particular was dying to see real Moody teaching as he had a reputation in that field as well.

They both reached the DADA classroom very quickly and took a seat in the front of the class waiting for the others to arrive. Moody arrived without any fanfare and started the class with a roll call glancing at every student with his glass eye much like Crouch guy did and started off quite similar to him as well making Harry wonder about the effort he must have put in impersonating Moody. ‘Well, he did fool Dumbledore for the entire year.’

“I will be telling you all about curses, hexes and the other magic deemed ‘dark’ by the ministry which is a load of tosh if you ask me.” Moody began but was interrupted by a raised hand from the Slytherin end of the class. “Yes, Mr. Higgs.”

“But sir, these are not taught in Hogwarts.” He said but was waved to sit down by Moody.

“Tell me class, if you do not know the dark arts, how are you supposed to defend against them, what is the point of Defence Against the Dark Arts if you do not know what are you fighting against?” he asked and no one in the class had any answer to that. But true, as Mr. Higgs said I will not be actually ‘teaching’ them as they are banned at Hogwarts; instead I will be teaching you how to recognize them, their effects and teaching you the counter-curses; a simple ‘’finite Incantatem’ only gets you this far.” Moody spoke making the students cheer a bit.

The rest of the class passed with Moody explaining the effects of furuncles curse and how to recognize it. He did make a big announcement in the class though.

“You may have noticed that even as your syllabus consists of non-verbal spell-casting I am not teaching you that; the other teachers, namely McGonagall and Flitwick will be teaching you that in their particular classes, I expect you to adapt from there and prove yourself to me via a duel in two weeks’ time.”

This had made the students appreciate him even more and he had quite the same reputation as Crouch Jr. had enjoyed when he had taught at Hogwarts. In other classes; potions was more or less the same as he had it when he was Harry with Snape making his full disapproval known of his ‘bat Animagus’ quip during his sorting taking almost thirty points off him while landing him in detention with himself when he had made a small ‘mistake’ of breathing too heavily in his class.

That suited Harry very well, Snivellus had kept the detention time so that he could not reach the Hufflepuff common room by the start of curfew; also with Filch’s office being in close distance to Snape’s and with Filch patrolling the corridors, he would be able to make a grab for the Marauder’s Map. ‘And it’s kind of refreshing to see same old Snape with his same old behaviour when everything is so different.’ He thought to himself and promptly lost another ten points for not paying attention.

Healing class was quite interesting; there were only ten students so Madam Pomfrey could teach quite effectively helping the students individually. She showed them a simple diagnostic spell ‘Revealo corpus’ which showed the injuries and their extent on the patient and a numbing charm to numb the pain for serious injuries like broken bones.

At 9:55 Harry stepped out of the greasy git’s office after his detention that involved scrubbing cauldrons which seemed like had not been washed in fifty years and that too without magic. But now he had bigger things to do, he cast a disillusionment charm on himself and walked towards Filch’s office after silencing his footsteps. He tried the door and found it unlocked and stepped in, closing the door with a locking charm, he lit his wand tip and started rummaging through the cupboard labelled “EXTREMELY DANGEROUS ITEMS”.

After about forty five minutes of searching through the large amount of clutter that the caretaker had deemed ‘Extremely Dangerous’ he found the old piece of parchment. “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good” he whispered and was elated to find writing spreading across the parchment like a spider’s web. “Messer’s Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs present the Marauder’s Map; may it aid you in further mischief making.” He scanned the parchment for anyone around the corridor and seeing that no one was near took off in the direction of the Hufflepuff common room. He reached the common room and only had to evade a puzzled looking Filch. ‘No doubt Snivellus snitched on me to get me in further trouble.’ Luckily for him, Mrs. Norris, the caretaker’s cat, was nowhere around and thus he was able to sneak in after Filch went away muttering obscenities about Snape under his breath confirming Harry’s suspicions.

Classes continued in the same vein for the rest of the week with only excitement being the tryouts for Hufflepuff Quidditch team as they were lacking a chaser and a seeker. Harry was spotted by the Quidditch captain, one Allison Whyte, when he was flying around after giving an impromptu flying lesson to some Muggleborn Firsties and was ordered to ‘be there’ at the tryouts; his protests of not having a broom falling on deaf ears.

It was due to this reason that found Harry walking down the Quidditch pitch on Saturday morning grumbling about insane, partially deaf captains. He reached the pitch to be surprised by the lack of candidates for the tryouts. Apparently, Hufflepuff had not been able to win the Quidditch cup in the last eighty years and has come last for the previous decade.

There were only five persons on the pitch apart from the existing team and Harry with one of them being a young Cedric Diggory. With four of the six aspirants trying out for the chaser spot it was decided that the seeker spot would be filled by the winner of a snitch chase while the other players tried to hit Diggory and Jacobs with Bludgers. Harry had been given a Cleansweep seven from one of the chaser aspirants making it an equal footing as far as brooms were concerned.

By the time the chase ended, every other person’s jaw was hanging wide open and Harry would have chuckled had it not been for the crazy glint in Allison’s eyes making him gulp especially when he found it comparable to the look on Ron’s face when it came to food or books in Hermione’s case.

It was decided that Harry would give Diggory lessons in ‘the fine art of seeking’ as Allison put it and in return Cedric would lend him his broom for practice and matches.

The news of the new kid being chosen Hufflepuff seeker spread fast and Harry found himself being pulled into an empty classroom by none other than Charlie Weasley when he was on his way to the Great Hall for a late lunch.

“Wha—What the hell Weasley? I don’t swing that way you idiot.” Harry taunted when he realized that it was Charlie, no Weasley, he told himself who had pulled him into the classroom.

Charlie turned red but spoke “So, you made the seeker for the ‘puffs.”

“So…”

“Now, you will learn a lesson about meddling in my affairs, Yankee; that meta-whore would come running back to me when I decimate you in Quidditch.” Charlie spoke moving around Harry as if measuring him.

“Yeah whatever, and I suggest that you stop name-calling Tonks.” Harry remarked coolly turning towards the door though he was raging inside.

“Or what?” Charlie sneered yanking his shoulder to turn him; Harry stood his ground and discretely tapped his hand with his wand muttering the physical protection charm and with the momentum of the turn as Charlie increased force punched him square in the jaw.

 **“SMACK”** there was a loud noise as Charlie fell down on the floor cradling his face, his jaw was broken by the sounds of it and more than a few teeth were knocked out.

“Or, I would do much worse than this.” Harry growled as he turned away and left through the door.

It felt oddly invigorating to fight the git; Harry rationalized that it was due to the insult to Tonks, one of his friends; but there was something else regarding his feelings towards her that he could not quite understand.

The month of September passed fairly quickly seeing that he did not really know anyone else apart from Tonks and spent his time with almost exclusively with her either studying or just talking about nothing in particular. Tonks was as funny and engaging as he remembered till the topic of discussion remained away from Charlie or her reputation in Hogwarts.

Moody had to postpone the duel two weeks back due to the problems faced by the students in casting non-verbally. Finally on one fine Monday morning he announced the duel.

“Right, it has been a month since I proposed a duel for you lot, today we have all the day courtesy of Dumbledore to see you duel and more importantly, see your progress with silent casting.” Moody announced as he waved his wand to erect a many dueling platforms in the magically expanded room.

He selected them in the groups of two with the winners dueling amongst themselves till one winner remains; the winner would then be given the opportunity to duel against Moody himself. The conditions of duel being any spell aside from the lethal ones and all should be cast silently. A silencing ward too care of the cheaters as Moody ordered them to begin.

Harry’s first opponent was none other than Alex who had been the leader of the group that had insulted Tonks in the Great hall and by the look on his face he was looking forward to teach Harry a lesson for getting him and his friends in trouble.

For all his anger, he was having problems in casting anything other than jelly-legs jinxes silently and stood still while dueling and Harry had no problem in dispatching him with a well-placed stunner after only one minute. Tonks too dispatched her opponent, a stocky Gryffindor who spent more time ogling her rather than actually dueling, in about the same time.

The second round too did not provide much challenge for either Harry or Tonks as they won their duels in fairly less time as their opponents lacked much in term of offence so it was only a matter of overpowering their shields and stunning them which they did without much effort.

There were twelve people left now and Moody chose another four who had been defeated on mere technicalities (overstepping the platforms) to make it so that there would be quarter, semi and finals.

The third round provided Harry with a relatively better opponent, Terrence Higgs was good at silent casting and kept moving around. Harry got the better of him after about five minutes having successfully maneuvered him into  water soaked platform on his side and then making him slip by a freezing spell and stunning the fallen opponent.

The quarters did not provide that much challenge but the semis provided him with a devious opponent, Nadira Zabini was quick, powerful and skilled and she provided Harry with a much needed challenge making it impossible to dodge by using area effect spells like the Reductor and destroying the platform on his side, eventually, Harry managed to beat her by feinting being hurt by debris and slipping in a Petrificus Totalus when she faltered sensing victory. Tonks too had beaten her opponent, Callista, who had insulted her in the Great hall incident but not without humiliating her with many artfully placed charms to mark her as saying “I am a two-knut slut.” Low, but let it not be said that Tonks did not know how to exact revenge.

It was now the finals and Moody was looking at both of them in pride and admiration as he allowed them five minutes to catch their breath, it was not a secret that he regarded Mark and Tonks as his best students.

“You are losing Mark; I want that duel and I will get it.” Tonks spoke taunting him; she had come out of her shell around him to some extent in the past month.

“In your dream ickle-Tonksie, I am going to put you to sleep before you say Quidditch.” Harry taunted back getting a scowl from Tonks for name-calling.

“Begin” Moody shouted and they both bowed to each other and sent twin reductors which collided in the middle of the platform destroying it and leaving two halves separated.

They shielded themselves from the flying debris and begun anew again; Harry lost patience first and sent an Expelliarmus followed by a stunner at Tonks, she dodged the stunner and deflected the disarmer back at him along with a leg-locker and a tickle charm all of them making it impossible to dodge. Harry let the tickle charm fly by harmlessly and countered the other two by a wide finite and sent a cutting curse at her which she shielded against and sent two low cutters at him to hit his legs; harry was cautious to this technique but was still grazed by one, je did not let it slow him down and sent a couple of Reductors at her platform forcing her to shield against them while using the reprieve to cauterize his wound by cauturo and heal it with Episkey when she was distracted with the Reductors.

They continued trading spells back and forth for ten more minutes with no one with a clear edge; getting desperate, both tried to summon each other and were thrown off the platform thusly ending the duel in a draw.

The class was stunned into silence be the fierce duel before they erupted into applause led by Moody.

“Well done, you two; now as there was no winner, you both get an opportunity to face off against me, two-on-one; but first get some rest as you should be tired.” He instructed.

Both friends nodded and despite their exhaustion they could not keep proud grins off their faces on winning the dueling cup, as it were, against all their class. They used the time given to rest to discuss tactics to be used against Moody. Harry who had previous experience against the auror pointed out that they could use his lack of mobility to their advantage.

Finally, rest time was over and it was the time to duel, Moody had done away with the platform for this duel and had vanished it giving them a good area to dodge.

The three bowed and the duel started with everyone watching in unmasked excitement and anticipation. No one fired a spell for nearly two minutes before Harry again lost patience and sent off an Expelliarmus in Moody’s direction; Moody proved he was master auror and still the best on force by deflecting it towards Tonks and sending his own curse towards Harry in a single move.

They traded spells for nearly five minutes with Moody making full use of his vast experience and eyes to keep them both in track and in sight, Harry having an epiphany started to curse in direction of his fake eye while instructing Tonks to cast a disillusionment charm on herself, the manoeuver worked as Harry managed to curse his eye off allowing them to almost overpower him, almost being the key word here as Moody sensing he was out-manoevered pointed his wand to ground and cast something which Harry had seen only Dumbledore do a year before to Fudge, Umbitch and a group of aurors after he was ordered to be arrested.

Both Harry and Tonks were disoriented and when the smoke settled Moody had disarmed, petrified, stunned and bound both of them to huge applause from the students.

Both groaned and sat up groggily as Moody undid the charms and curses placed on them. He waited for them to regain their bearings and spoke when it looked like they were finally free of drowsiness.

“Great teamwork, you two; that was one of the vest duels I have been it and I have had quite a few of them.” Moody spoke and Harry had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing, to say that Moody had one or two duels is to say that Albus Dumbledore was a squib.

“But they used underhanded means.” A Gryffindor shouted from the back of the gathering.

He addressed the class at large, “You have to use all the advantage you can get when you are dueling an opponent more skilled than you, whether they be underhanded or not. If a dark wizard fights you; you have to play dirty to survive, false bravado will only get you killed.” He spoke and by the end of his speech the Gryffindor was red in face from embarrassment.

“Once again, that was a great display; you two. Take fifty points apiece for winning the competition and twenty for such a good duel; keep it up.” He complimented and Harry and Tonks could not keep the proud grins off their faces, Moody was not one to compliment someone lightly.”

“Thank you, Professor Moody.” They said and almost glided off to their seat as the classroom had been returned to its original state by Moody.

Another thing that Harry was looking forward to was apparition lessons which started to take place from tenth October, their instructor was a middle aged ministry worker from the Department of Magical Travel named Tim something. Professor Dumbledore had modified the Hogwarts wards to allow the students to study apparition in the Great Hall and only there.

Tim started the lesson by showing off the apparition himself by a twist and a small ‘pop’ and he was on the other end of the room. He then placed metal hoops about five yards apart in many rows and instructed the students to stand one behind the other.

He explained the dangers of learning apparition without adult supervision and the laws regarding apparition. Basically that you should not Apparate without a license which you could get only if you are seventeen or emancipated; luckily for Harry, he was emancipated due to the lack of any guardian.

“Apparition is learned by focusing on three Ds; they being Deliberation, Determination and Destination; meaning keep your destination in mind, deliberate yourself to reach it with full determination. If your determination is less you might leave some part of your body behind which is called Splinching, if you mix up on destination part you will reach somewhere else and if you mix up on deliberation you will not be able to Apparate at all.

“Now focus on the three Ds and try to Apparate from one hoop to the other and back.” He instructed as every student tried to focus on Apparating but no one succeeding at all.

Harry, who was standing behind Tonks, could not help but gaze at Tonks’ shapely butt every time he tried to gather focus on Apparating and did not get anywhere.

‘Damn you idiot; you will Splinch yourself if you keep stealing glances at her butt, but what a nice butt…’ he cursed himself for losing focus and tried again only to get the same result. Deciding that he could not get anywhere if he kept standing in his present position and approached Tonks blushing all the while.

“Um…Tonks?” he said.

Tonks stopped herself mid-twist and nearly tripped had it not been for Harry catching her and glared at him a little and said “What?”

“Um…would you mind if you switched positions with me?” he asked blushing even brighter. Tonks just raised an eyebrow at him and he blushed even further before mumbling “The view is quite…ah…distracting there.”

Tonks had of course heard him but could not help teasing him a little more “What did you say, Mark?” she asked sweetly.

Harry was completely tomato red by now but said again “The view is quite distracting there.”

She laughed slightly and smirked a little but agreed and moved into his position only to run into a new dilemma.

Harry had not known it but the constant exercise and workout regime he had picked up had started to fill him out a bit; what was one an unhealthily thin, scrawny little boy was now at least sporting a lean, wiry frame and had also gained an inch or so making him just a quite attractive and Tonks could not help but be distracted by the view of his tight little bum.

She groaned to herself and made a mental note not to stand behind him in the next lesson. No one had even managed to Splinch themselves by the end of the lesson but Harry was determined to learn it as fast as he could and he had the perfect place to practice further, the Room of Requirement. He decided to study every night for one hour so that he could go and meet up his younger version on every Hogsmeade weekend at the very least.

He managed to get it down due to his nightly practice by the end of the week and Apparated for the first time in the class next Saturday much to the astonishment and suspicion of Tonks. The instructor was very impressed and congratulated him instructing him to focus on making less noise by concentrating harder.

By the next Saturday Harry was able to Apparate with a very soft, almost unnoticeable ‘po’ and decided to get his license so he would not get in trouble with the ministry is they caught him. Tonks had not managed to keep her curiosity in check and had cornered him one night to tell her how he was progressing so quickly. He did not want to lie to her and it was another step towards gaining her trust so he showed her the Marauder’s Map and ROR making a vague story about Filch leaving it around as a ‘Highly Dangerous’ item in his office and he nicked it when she asked about the map.

 By the next class which also happened to be on the next Hogsmeade weekend, Tonks too had managed to disapparate successfully with a respectable level of noise. She did not want to go to Hogsmeade citing that she had some work so Harry left her in the castle and left for Hogsmeade after the customary checkup by Filch.

He and Harry (younger) had exchanged letters every week after coming to Hogwarts and his letters hinted that the lack of visits for the past two months or so had allowed the Dursleys to get some of their courage back; he had asked Harry to meet him in the play-park this Saturday and he was looking forward to it. Merlin help the Dursleys if they had abused him anymore.

He reached Hogsmeade and set off in the direction of the Shrieking Shack, going to its back so that no one saw him he cast a disillusionment charm upon himself and disapparated with almost no sound appearing in the park he had instructed Harry to be in at the same instant. He saw Harry sitting under a tree looking better than the last time he had visited if not a little tired; he removed his Disillusionment charm and called “Hey Harry!”

“Hi Mark, how are you?” Harry asked in barely concealed happiness.

“I am fine, what about you?” Mark asked.

“I am fine, too; how is school?” Harry responded.

“It’s great; I have made some friends; you?” Mark asked.

Harry nodded too looking slightly happy; they chatted about inconsequential things for a while, Mark asked Harry about his grades at school and was happy to know that he was doing better now that the Dursleys did not bear down upon him for outperforming Dudley. It had taken three stern letters from Mark and a guilt-trip about disgracing his parents from Mark to bring Harry out of his Dursley-forced shell in school and showing his intelligence and now the results were improving.

“So, how have the Dursleys been treating you?” Mark asked.

“They have been treating me as you had asked them to, giving enough food, clothes; just ignoring me most of the time.” Harry spoke but Mark caught on a ‘but’ that he had not mentioned and the words seemed a bit forced.

Mark hinted towards his tiredness slightly and the panicked look in Harry’s eyes told him all he wanted to know so he asked straight and to the point “They have been bad, haven’t they?”

Harry did not answer but it was all he needed; he took his hand and set off towards Privet Drive at a brisk pace; it had taken a little prying but Harry had told him that Dudley had not learned his lesson and had beaten him in school and bullied his friends with his gang, when he had told the Dursleys, they had not done anything and even praised Dudley.

Presently, they reached the house and Mark entered; he was very happy to see all of his targets at the same place, in front of the television and entered the living room.

A wave of his wand and a muttered curse later the Dursleys were all bound in their chairs in thick iron chains with looks of horror on their faces at the sight of the ‘freak policeman’.

“Now, Mrs. Dursley, we had reached an agreement at my last visit and it has come to my attention that you have not been keeping your end up.”

“The boy is lying; we have been treating him perfectly fine.” Petunia snapped.

“Somehow, I don’t quite believe you.” Mark said sarcastically and added “We can read minds, you know.” The paling of the three Dursleys proved him correct.

“Dudley!” he exclaimed in a fake surprise voice and continued “Dudley, Dudley, Dudley; you forgot what I did last time hmm…naughty boy; well this time your punishment would be harsher.” Mark spoke in a voice that sent chills down their spines.

After a moment of pondering he took his hands, gripped them firmly and tapped the knuckles with his wand saying “ **Ossis effodo** ” the bone breaking curse did its job and Dudley let out a huge wail. Had it not been for the silencing ward around the room the neighbours would have been swarming up by now but no chance now, is there?

Mark vanished the chains around Dudley and said “ **Confundo** ” Dudley rose from the chair, walked towards Vernon and punched him, straight in the nuts, adding a stinging hex a moment before the punch landed and where had been one wailing Dursley became two wailing and one screeching.

Mark silenced them all with a wave of his wand and said in a commanding voice “If I hear next time that you have not been abiding by our arrangement; I will make it much, much worse. Understand?” Petunia nodded shakily and he vanished all the chains petrifying the males for good measure.

He talked with Harry for a little more time and promised to check up on him as often as he could get away with sneaking and left the house. Harry had been a little frightened of his disciplining of the Dursleys but a story of his own childhood in Mark’s life and he was as good as new.

As he was walking towards Hogwarts in the evening, Harry thought if he had done too much but remembering all the broken bones, beatings, starvings, and general abuse heaped upon him in the years he had been with them only made his mood darker. ‘They deserve much, much more than what they got.’ He thought as a little weight lifted from his chest after finally confronting his tormentors and not resorting to outright killing them.

Tonks seemed to pick up on his dark mood but did not ask much knowing he would tell her when he was ready.

That night Harry slept with a hope for the future while Mark slept with a little relief at finally paying back to his tormentors.


	6. Confrontations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some fights, tensions mounting, limited fluffy content

Chapter 6

 

Confrontations

On Sunday, Harry accompanied Tonks to the village as she had to meet her mother for something and she had asked him to tag along. Harry was very excited to meet Andromeda, he remembered Sirius saying the previous summer that she was his favourite cousin growing up and that they were very close; another reason being that she was Tonks’ mother; he wanted to meet the person so close to his Godfather and the one who raised such a thoughtful daughter.

His excitement must have showed on his face as Tonks asked as they were walking towards the Entrance Hall; she said in a teasing tone “You are quite excited to meet mum?”

“Yep” Harry quipped popping the ‘p’ slightly. Tonks just raised an eyebrow in mild curiosity, seeing this Harry told “well, she is your mother.” He drawled in such a way as if it explained everything, which in his opinion, it did.

“Yeah, so?” apparently Tonks did not agree with his mind or she was on another frequency requiring Harry to explain further.

“So, she has to have some real interesting stories and photos; I just can’t wait to see them.” Harry said in a giddy voice that suited better to a five year old child instead of a teenage wizard, on the other hand Tonks’ face took a look of pure horror on this explanation, her mother just loved to show embarrassing childhood photos to anyone who she liked and it was no question, she would love Mark and then those albums, Tonks shuddered at the thought.

To match with his giddiness and the excitement he was feeling, Harry practically dragged off a still shocked Tonks in the direction of the carriages where Filch was ready with secrecy sensors. After nearly ten minutes of jabbing them with the antenna like object, he let them go, albeit reluctantly. Harry had made Tonks skip breakfast in his excitement so they had set off quite early; they boarded a carriage and set off chatting idly; Harry teasing Tonks mercilessly by wondering aloud what photos he could see, finally Tonks had had enough and retorted “That’s it; you say another word about photos or stories and I will hex you into oblivion.”

“You wouldn’t” Harry said in mock outrage as Tonks merely smirked twirling her wand in her fingers.

“I will tell your mum about that prank you pulled on Zabini.” Harry threatened when Tonks’ smug look became too much for him and was somewhat satisfied when Tonks paled and her eyes widened.

“Okay, okay; I wouldn’t even touch you but please don’t mention anything to mum about that.” She pleaded with wide innocent eyes, her wand disappearing from sight faster than Harry could even blink.

Harry just smirked as Tonks pouted child-like. He was having the Tonks he remembered back little by little and was very happy for his accomplishment.

They reached the village in little time and set off towards the Three Broomsticks for a breakfast when both their stomachs growled in unison.

Madam Rosmerta greeted them both with a smile as they took a table in the corner if the almost empty tavern. She knew Tonks well enough both from her friendship with Andromeda and also with Tonks being one of the more remember-able students with her unique abilities but she could not remember if she had seen the boy with her previously.

“Hello Tonks dear, how are you?” Madam Rosmerta asked and eyed Harry curiously; Tonks introduced Harry and ordered a light breakfast for them.

As the tavern was fairly empty, Rosmerta came around to sit at their table for a chat and chance to catch up with Tonks. They talked about school, classes and other general things; when Tonks told her about the incident with Charlie on the train Madam Rosmerta just sighed telling them how he had picked up a fight in the village the previous day too and remarked ‘Success has gone to his head.’

They finished the meal and after some time chatting with Rosmerta paid for the meal and exited the pub to shop round the village and kill time till they had to meet Andromeda. Tonks had to restock her sweets supplies so they walked off in the direction of Honeydukes sweet shop (Tonks had many sweet teeth!).

Tonks also spent too much time window shopping at the Gladrags after she had showed Harry around the major attractions of the village.

As it was nearing lunchtime, Tonks led Harry towards Madam Puddifoot’s tea shop. Harry eyed the little pink shop warily and Tonks caught this on and grinned evilly; a plan for payback forming in her mind, Harry missed all this as he was busy remembering his disastrous date with Cho at the shop and provided Tonks with the perfect opportunity.

She led him towards the entrance of the shop and was about to enter when Harry came to his senses and asked in a shaky voice “Your mum would meet us here?” he was so horrified that he forgot that Andromeda had invited them for lunch and thus walked straight into Tonks’ trap.

“Yep.” Tonks replied in the same tone of voice Harry had used earlier in the morning with her and enjoyed as Harry completely stopped walking with a horrified expression on his face.

He looked around for an escape and seeing Dervish and Banges said quickly in a high-pitched voice, “I have some work in Dervish and Banges; you go talk to your mum, I would meet you later.”

Tonks was having none of it and gripped his hand tightly saying, “You can visit that shop later, I really want you to meet mum.”

Harry had a very shocked look on his face and finally Tonks cracked up laughing loudly clutching her sides from pain after laughing nonstop for nearly five minutes, she calmed down after a while and cracked up again at the look on Harry’s face “Oh, you should see your face” Tonks said and dissolved into another fit of laughter.

“You evil wench, I am gonna get you back; just you wait.” Harry said after his brain caught up with the fact that he was not meeting Andromeda at Puddifoot’s tea shop and Tonks was just having him on.

“Do your worst.” Tonks said not at all worried about Harry’s payback and led him away from the tea shop.

“Come on, mum would be waiting.” She said and set off towards Dervish and Banges and past it. She pointed to a tree and said “Welcome to the Tonks’ Treehouse” and suddenly a small treehouse became visible on the tree. Harry was awed by the magic done to hide the treehouse and the fact that it was built completely inside the trunk of a living tree.

“Mum’s a mistress in Charms and Herbology.” She said by way of an explanation and Harry’s respect for the woman only increased.

“Is it hidden by the Fidelius Charm?” Harry asked remembering the Black Manor had made the same sort of appearance when given the secret.

“No, it is some charm mum invented but it is not the Fidelius.” Tonks said and walked in through the door. Harry followed her to the kitchen where she raided a cookie jar immediately giving one to Harry saying “Mum is a great cook.” Harry bit the cookie and had to admit, Andromeda Tonks made Molly Weasley look pale when it came to cooking.

“Nymphadora, how many times I have said you not to raid the sweets immediately upon your visit especially when you are visiting for a meal.” A voice so much like Tonks came from somewhere in the house. Harry turned around to see Andromeda coming through the backdoor, curiously enough she stepped by opening only one door while they were a set of two. His curiosity must have shown on his face because Tonks spoke, “it’s another one of mum’s original charms; I will show you later.”

“Hello dear, you must be Mark.” Andromeda said greeting him.

“Hello, Mrs. Tonks.” Harry greeted.

“Now, now; none of that Mrs. Tonks stuff, call me Andromeda.” She spoke with a warm welcoming smile and then started to fuss on Tonks in much of the same way Mrs. Weasley did but without being overbearing like her. Harry took the time to study her.

Andromeda Tonks was a tall, lean woman with a pale skin and grey eyes that all the Blacks possessed; she had dark brown hair and possessed a natural elegance and beauty of the Blacks. She was as beautiful as either of her sisters but without the horrors of Azkaban that ravaged Bellatrix or the coldness of Narcissa. On first glance, one could mistake her for her older sister easily but the warm smile and not to mention the lack of the evil aura that Bellatrix gives out makes Andromeda as different from her crazy sister as possible. Harry may have taken a longer time staring at her than he realized because Tonks got a mischievous glint in her eyes and spoke “Oi Mark, quit checking my mum out.”

“Wha-, no I was not, I did not… damn.” Harry sputtered in denial blushing heavily as Tonks howled in laughter.

Taking pity on the poor boy and not to mention tease her daughter a little Andromeda spoke, “Are you jealous Nymphie?” and she had also caught upon the attraction her daughter felt for the boy.

It was now Tonks’ turn to sputter denials as Andromeda chuckled lightly at her daughter’s misfortune while Harry clutched his sides from laughing too hard.

“Laugh while you can, you git; I will get you back.” Tonks shouted in mock outrage and pouted when both her mother and Harry just laughed louder at her muttered threats.

After they all sobered up from their laughing fits, Andromeda set about preparing lunch while Tonks showed Harry the charms her mother had put on the house, the particular charm that Harry had found curious when Andromeda had entered the kitchen was very difficult and had been one of the inventions of Andromeda. When you opened the right side door of the kitchen you get the living room, left side door gives you the loo while opening both doors simultaneously gave the master bedroom; such charm was placed on every doorway and Harry was very impressed by the spellwork and the fact that it was an original creation of Andromeda.

After a nice lunch (Andromeda really made Molly Weasley look pale in cooking department!) Andromeda revealed the real reason as to why she had invited Harry along with Tonks. Apparently, professor Sprout, another friend of hers, had told her about the incident with the Hufflepuffs badmouthing Tonks and Harry’s part in helping Tonks, so she just wanted to see if everything was okay and meet Harry.

“It was no problem Mrs. Tonks err Andromeda,” Harry corrected at her mild glare and continued, “I would have done exactly the same thing for any of my friends.” Harry said after Andromeda thanked him profusely helping and being there for her daughter.

They chatted idly until it was the time to return to the castle, Harry and Tonks bade goodbye to Andromeda when she got a twinkle in her eyes not unlike her cousin Sirius.

“Oh, I totally forgot; do come for lunch on next Hogsmeade weekend Mark dear, I forgot to show you Nymphie’s childhood album; we will cover it the next time.” She spoke enjoying the look of horror on Tonks’ face.

“Sure Andromeda; see you next time.” Harry spoke chuckling at the look on Tonks’ face while Tonks grumbled under her breath about the tortures she would put both of them under if they even mentioned photos the next time.

They returned to the castle each lost in their own thoughts, though their banter had been present on the ride back; one question plagued them both, what does the other mean to them? Neither had any answer for that nor did they know what was going on in the other’s mind so it was with uncertainty and a little awkwardness that they bade each other good night and went to their respective dormitories.

Harry’s mood started deteriorating as Monday rolled around as it was nearing Halloween, it was something which Tonks picked up very early but refrained herself from asking him about it figuring that he would tell her when he was ready. He still joked and laughed around but it looked forced. It certainly didn’t help that something bad almost certainly happened on Halloweens.

On Halloween, he woke up early and not feeling like dealing with crowds, took an early breakfast and locked himself in the Room of Requirements. Tonks noted his absence but decided that maybe he needed some alone time but when he failed to show up for the Defence against the Dark Arts class, she started to get worried. Figuring that he would be found in the ROR, she set off in search of him, she had just reached the corridor where the room was situated when a voice halted her in her tracks.

“Where is your boyfriend, whore?” Charlie Weasley stepped out of the shadows from behind her, he was with four of his friends and by the look of his face he was looking for a fight.

“What happened weasel? No girls going out with you so you looking for, damn, four dicks plus an extra to satisfy your needs?” Tonks said in a biting voice.

“Shut up you slut; I’ll teach you a lesson. No one just ups and dumps me and get away with it. Charlie spoke angrily.

Tonks knew that she had little for getting away unhurt, she was facing five to one and these were average, if not better, students. She prayed to every deity listening, something her father had taught her, that she gets away with minimal damage.

It looked like her prayers were answered when Mark’s voice came from behind her, “Tonks, what is going on here?”

Harry had locked himself in the Room of Requirements for the day on Halloween, he had took breakfast earlier than any other students and had locked himself away, in order to suppress the memories that were threatening to spill out of his shields, he decided to work on Animagus transformations to keep his mind away from bad memories. He had skipped lunch and was a little hungry, also he was feeling a little bad for leaving Tonks alone wondering where had he been and decided to meet her and ask her not to worry and to leave him alone for the day.

He had stepped out of the Room when he saw a group of people at the end of the corridor and by the looks of it they were arguing about something; as he moved closer he saw a girl arguing with a group of five boys and had green hair, that was definitely Tonks, he ran towards her shouting “Tonks, what is going on here?”

Tonks breathed a sigh of relief when she heard Mark’s voice and said “Nothing, Charlie here has been looking for you, he needs one more penis to satisfy himself.”

Charlie reacted to Harry's presence by shouting “Steal my girl, would you? I am going to teach you and this bitch a lesson you won’t forget for the rest of your lives.

As he said this he and his friends drew their wand and sent several reductors at Harry who dodged them all easily due to the distance between them and saved himself from debris by a shield, it took a moment for Tonks to react but when she sent her curses at the attacking group, two of them attacked her to stop her from helping Harry while Charlie and two others attacked Harry.

Charlie and his friends attacking Harry were throwing cutting curses and reductors while those attacking Tonks were merely using stunners and other low level curses showing that they just wanted to keep her out of fight on Charlie’s orders.

Despite the odds against them, Harry and Tonks showed why they were considered two of the best duelists in the school. They were unharmed until then and even managed to throw in a spell or two at the attackers whenever they had the chance.

Tonks had just disarmed and stunned one of her attackers when Charlie sent a Bombarda at Harry, but his aim was off and the bombardment hex was sent straight at Tonks’ feet who did not see it as she was dueling her other attacker.

“Tonks, dive!” Harry shouted even as he shielded and dodged against his opponents.

Tonks heard him and dove to the left makin the curse miss but the debris from the explosion caught her legs breaking the bones and he dive resulted in her hitting the wall due to the narrow corridor knocking her out.

Harry felt something snap inside him when he saw Tonks knocked out, the scene was eerily familiar to him as he had seen Hermione in almost the same situation at the DOM only last year.

Charlie and the others were too stunned to react and that proved their biggest mistake as Harry let out a primal roar and a surge of magic rose from his body throwing them into walls like ragdolls. The lone attacker of Tonks landed the furthest away from her as Harry advanced on his fallen enemies that were just regaining their bearings.

 **“Diffindo, ossis effodo, ossis frange, os explodere”** he spoke in a thunderous voice chaining his spells together not even realizing that he had chained four spells while previously he could do only three and he was not even trying.

The cutter and the bone breaker were sent towards his other two attackers who had somewhat regained their bearings and shielded them thought they went past them but with diminished effects but the other two spells hit Charlie on either leg. He cried out in pain dropping his wand as his friends started to fire at Harry who shielded their spells and said at the same time they paused to catch their breaths **“os explodere, flamma secare, protego”** Harry had to shield against the spell sent at him by one of the attackers who was hit by his first spell while the second one was able to dodge the flame spell. As the third attacker fell with a blood curdling scream and bones and flesh parts flying out of his hand and right part of the chest Harry turned his attention to the last attacker. **“perforatio, lacero, perforatio”** the piercer and the cutter collapsed his shield while the second piercer hit him on shoulder making him drop his wand, another bone-breaker on the left shoulder had him whimpering and screaming until he passed out from shock and pain.

The last attacker was nowhere in sight so Harry turned his attention on Charlie who had manage to get his screaming in check and was looking at him in terror. “You know Weasley, you are like a spoilt brat; and I don’t like spoilt brats. **Perforatio”** the piercing curse to the shoulder made his hand stop and quite painfully too as it was inching towards his wand.

Meanwhile, the fifth attacker had found the teachers and was now heading towards his friends after spinning a tale in their favour. Minerva McGonagall, Alastor Moody and Aurora Sinistra arrived on the corridor and were stunned into inaction at the scene in front of them; only Moody, who had seen such scenes had a presence of mind to stun the lone standing student, Mark.

“Levitate them all to the Hospital Wing, call Dumbledore.” Moody’s orders snapped the two women into action as they levitated the fallen students, after stunning them to stop their screams, and ran off in the direction of the infirmary.

Dumbledore arrived in the Hospital Wing to see five students lying in beds with multiple injuries to the four of them while two others were stunned and in another beds. Miss Tonks was attending to the blue haired transfer student who by the looks of it was the least injured of all present.

“What happened here?” he asked to Moody.

“We don’t know for sure but Mr. Thomson here” he pointed to the fifth attacker “came to us quite injured screaming about how Mr. Jacobs and Miss Tonks attacked Charlie and his friends and had injured Charlie badly when he made a run for it, I find his story fishy myself; these two are just not the types to attack unprovoked. I am more inclined to believe the incident happening other way round.” Moody spoke.

“Indeed.” Dumbledore raised an eyebrow when Moody said that two sixth years beat the five seventh years, who were good students, none the less, and another when Moody defended the duo with something akin to pride in his voice.

“Poppy, how long till we can question them?” Dumbledore asked.

“You can question Miss Tonks, Mr. Jacobs and Thomson any time you want but these four have to wait, they have shattered bones which have to be vanished before regrowing them, if you insist, I can put a numbing charm and revive them.” Madam Pomfrey told him in a no-nonsense voice.

“Please do, Poppy; and Minerva, please call Molly and Arthur, oh and also Andromeda and Pomona also; I would like to discuss this with their parents and heads of houses present.” Dumbledore spoke and McGonagall went to floo call the required people. The parents of the others were either muggles or dead.

Madam Pomfrey put the necessary numbing charms and revived the students as they all waited for the required people to show up.

“My baby, oh what happened? Are you alright? Where does it hurt?” Molly Weasley rushed over to her son as soon as she arrived as Andromeda went over to her daughter.

Dumbledore merely smiled at the antics of the Weasley mother hen, it warmed his old heart to see her fussing over; she would make a good mother figure for young Harry when he befriends her youngest son next year.

“I would like to know that myself, Molly. Mr. Weasley; if you would please tell us as to how you reached here in such bad condition?” Dumbledore asked.

Charlie seeing his chance wove a tale saying how Mark and Tonks used dark curses to overwhelm them and if the teachers had not arrived they would have killed them.

Hearing her son, Molly burst out “You, you scarlet woman, how dare you hurt my son. Dumbledore, I demand you to expel this hooligan and this, this scarlet woman. What more can you expect from a Black.” Molly shouted and was red in face by the end of her rant.

The slight against her family got a reaction out of the normally composed Andromeda, she said in a forced calm voice “Do shut your gob, Weasley; need I give you a reminder of what happened the last time you got into a feud.”

“Now, now Andromeda, no need to get angry.” Dumbledore said in a voice as if talking to a child and it was clear to Harry on which side he was on.

“Mr. Jacobs, Miss Tonks; what do you have to say for yourself?” Dumbledore asked when Andromeda and Moody pointed out that he should listen to both the sides.

“Me and Tonks could show you our memories.” Harry said and the teachers nodded. Dumbledore called for Fawkes and the phoenix appeared clutching his Pensieve in its talons.

Harry deposited his memory in the basin prompting Tonks to do the same and the teachers and parents all went into the bowl to examine the memories.

Charlie smirked at the two and said in a taunting voice apparently confident that Tonks and Harry would be expelled, “How does it feel, bitch; you would be expelled. And if you somehow got away without that your dream of being an auror is forfeit.”

Harry felt anger, rage; it was clear that Charlie had not learned his lesson; he had no respect for women. His injuries would heal; Harry wanted to teach him a lesson, something permanent. And from deep within his subconscious, an instinctual knowledge came to the front of his mind. His hand darted to his wand of its own accord, grabbed it and he growled out in deep, thunderous voice that sounded so much unlike his **“Charlie Weasley, you have no respect for women, you are a disgrace on the name of all men; castratio explodere.”** a blue light emitted from his wand and sped towards Charlie who was too terrified to move, just before it could strike him, a shield sprang into existence and deflected the curse onto a wall where upon contact a small explosion rocked the infirmary.

The teachers and the parents had exited the pensieve and were deeply disturbed by what they saw, Molly was still ranting about how that ‘scarlet woman had provoked her innocent son’ but it was clear to all present that who was in the wrong this time. They were just regaining their bearings when a powerful, deep voice roared out **“castratio explodere”** Dumbledore and Moody whipped out there wands and sent a shield at Charlie who was too terrified to move. The curse passed through Moody’s shield as if it was not even present but Dumbledore’s shield deflected it onto the wall resulting into a small explosion. Andromeda paled when she heard the spell used, it was one of the Black family spells and only a Black would be able to cast it so she was very surprised when she saw Mark with his wand raised looking confused, she hid her surprise well, it would not do to spill family secrets in front of Dumbledore but made a mental note to grill Mark at the earliest opportunity.

“What is the meaning of this Jacobs?” Moody roared.

“He insulted us, he insulted Tonks, it just happened.” Harry explained hastily at the look on Moody’s face.

“What spell did you use?” Moody asked further as Dumbledore eyed Harry curiously with a penetrating gaze.

“I don’t know.” Harry replied honestly. He felt a pressure on his shields and sprang them up to full power instantly making the pressure fade and then go away as Dumbledore’s intense gaze receded then was replaced by a look of thoughtfulness on his face.

“What do you mean, you don’t know; you just cast it, you have to know about it.” Moody growled.

“He is telling the truth, Alastor.” Dumbledore spoke with a frown marring his face.

“Well Mr. Jacobs, from your and Miss Tonks’ memories it is quite clear that you did not attack unprovoked, but, you two still broke more than a few school rules. Fifty points apie­ce from Hufflepuff and detention with Alastor Moody for a week.” Dumbledore spoke even as Sprout looked mutinous.

“Misters Weasley, Thomson, Drake, Whyte and Parker; I am extremely disappointed in you five. Not only did you attack Mr. Jacobs and Miss Tonks unprovoked, you also lied to the teachers. Seventy-five points apiece from Gryffindor and detention for fifteen days with Professor Snape.” Dumbledore spoke as McGonagall looked like she wanted to tear them apart limb from limb.

“Also Mr. Jacobs, I would like to speak with you in my office.” The order in the Headmaster’s voice was clear to Harry and he found himself walking to the now quite familiar office but for the first time in his life he knew something that Dumbledore didn’t.

“Ice mice” Dumbledore supplied the password to the gargoyle guarding the staircase and it leaped aside. They ascended the staircase in tense silence as Harry wondered how the old man would react to the news that the new transfer student was none other than a time-travelling Harry Potter.

Presently they reached the top of the stairs and strode into Dumbledore’s office. Fawkes was sleeping on its perch but trilled happily and flew to Harry as soon as it saw him; Harry just scratched it beneath its beak as Dumbledore gestured him to a seat.

Dumbledore did not offer lemon drops this time and for the first time in Harry’s life spoke straight to the point. “Mr. Jacobs, I must say that I am very shocked at the lethality of the spells you fired to subdue your attackers. While I do not condone their actions, you could have showed some restraint and stunned them instead of using those bone exploders and piercing curses.” Dumbledore spoke and Harry looked at him in wonder. ‘How did he explain those Bombardas and Reductors?’ Harry thought but did not voice it, instead. ‘Time to spring the big guns.”

“Fortuna favet audax” harry spoke as Albus looked on confusedly and then in shock as a veritable copy of James Potter was sitting before him instead of Mark Jacobs but Harry was far from done ~Harry Potter~ he spoke in Parseltongue and the skin-patch fell off his forehead. “Harry James Potter, at your service.” Harry spoke with a smirk.

Dumbledore looked on in shock, before him was none other than Harry Potter but that should not be possible; Harry Potter was ten years old and in no. 4, Privet Drive. Harry, on the other hand, was enjoying the look of shock on Dumbledore’s face immensely; it was not an everyday occurrence that Albus Dumbledore was surprised.

“How?” Dumbledore asked weakly.

“Time-travel.” Harry replied and when Albus asked for an explanation he shrugged and told him about the duel with Voldemort and his appearance here.

“Now, as for the lethality of those curses, I am going to show you a memory and then you answer me, should I had not been lethal in my approach?” Harry said and pulled out the memory of the ministry fight right until the Order arrived and dumped it into the basin.

Dumbledore exited the memory a while later and Harry put it back into his head and said, “You must have looked how we merely stunned them and they almost killed us, they would have but they were ordered not to. This fight just brought these memories to the front and I reacted accordingly.”

Dumbledore had no explanation or words to say against this, he himself was raring to go and curse those Death Eaters into oblivion when he saw that they were throwing around lethal curses against children, his students.

“Now that that’s done with; I wish to discuss the living arrangements for me, that is, young Harry; you know the Dursleys abuse him, you know that he does not know of our world. I know that the blood wards are required but I do not want the same atrocities against him this time. I have taken some steps but I’m afraid that they would prove insufficient.” Harry spoke reapplying his glamours and the skin-patch.

“What do you want done?” Dumbledore looked genuinely regretful.

“I can live with him, the blood wards would be more strengthened as we both are the same being and I would certainly love myself. It’s a win-win situation; but you would have to increase the Dursleys’ pay, I know that they have not spent a pound on me but I would rather not have any problems with them. Just give us some money to buy things and such, we can live with that and they would not even have to see us.” Harry offered.

“Hmm, that’s acceptable; you may live with them.” Dumbledore said.

“That was not a request, that was an order, Dumbledore; you would do well to remember that you need me on your side to defeat the dark lord.” Harry spoke forcefully not liking the tone that Dumbledore used with him, not one bit.

Dumbledore nodded wearily and Harry exited his office without even taking his permission. Dumbledore rubbed his temples and sighed with weariness, he was getting too old for this and this visit, unexpected one at that, had been more trying than having Severus and James Potter in the same room and believe him, he had dealt with that too. With thought running a mile a second, he took a lemon drop and popped it into his mouth.

On its perch, the sorting hat chuckled to itself, ‘Looks like Potter finally grew a brain, eh. Hit dear Albus hard and fast without giving him a chance to ask any questions and even managing to retain most of the relevant information. Indeed, the boy would have done well in Slytherin.’

**Spells used:**

**Ossis effodo:** Bone breaking curse

                A sky blue coloured spell, breaks the bone on contact.

 **Ossis frange:** Bone shattering curse

                A blue coloured spell, shatters the bone on contact, multiple fracture like effect but localized at the point of impact.

 **Os explodere:** Bone exploding curse

                A deep blue coloured spell, explodes the bone on point of contact; potentially lethal.

 **Perforatio:** Piercing curse

                A grey coloured spell, pierces a hole in almost anything; potentially lethal.

 **Flamma secare:** Flame cutter

                As the name suggests, a cutter with a flame in its wake; potentially lethal.

 **Lacero:** Cutting curse

                Cuts an arc with the wand motion, deep red in colour.

 **Castratio explodere:** Exploding castration curse

                A Black family spell, castrates the target with an explosion to finish off the reproductive organs, no known counter, injuries cannot be healed. Only a Black can perform the family spells even if others know of them.


	7. Halloween Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of the Halloween

Chapter 7

Halloween aftermath

* * *

Dumbledore’s POV begins:

I am sitting in my office when the fire turns green, a sure sign of the floo coming to life. A very angry and frazzled Minerva is not the sight you see very often and that is what greets me from the fireplace.

“Albus, Albus, are you there?” she asks barely keeping patience.

“Yes Minerva, whatever seems to be the problem?” I ask; no need to indulge in pleasantries when she is angry, I have learned this from the last time I did that.

“Oh Albus, please come to the Hospital wing immediately; there has been an incident.” She replies and cuts off the connection abruptly.

I think for a moment, this ‘incident’ seems to be a major one by the look on Minerva’s face.

“Dilys, please go and check in the infirmary, find out what happened.” I ask the witch who was a very famous healer and a Headmistress of this school.

She reappears in her frame after nearly two minutes looking very pale, shocked even. “There are Misters Charlie Weasley, Thomson, Parker, Drake and Whyte from Gryffindor sporting some nasty injuries. They seem to have gotten in a fight with Mister Jacobs, new transfer student, and Miss Tonks from Hufflepuff; these two are also injured but not as severely as the previous five.” She is out of breath by the end of her report.

I thank her and start towards the infirmary, I cannot use the floo as it is being used to call Andromeda, Molly and Arthur as the wards tell me; also walking gives me a time to think the next course of action. I reach the infirmary in nearly five minutes largely due to the impressive knowledge of secret passageways that even the legendary Marauders did not know of.

According to Dilys, the five seventh year Gryffindors were in a much worse shape than the two sixth year Hufflepuffs; I am quite curious as to how two sixth years, albeit exceptional duelists if Moody is to be believed, injured five seventh years, who are no idiots with a wand and more than average magically and academically. I am interested.

I open the doors of the infirmary and see the five Gryffindors lying in beds stunned by the looks of it sporting multiple gruesome injuries while Miss Tonks is attending to the blue haired transfer student, Mr. Jacobs who by the looks of it is stunned and is the least injured of the seven.

I spot Alastor and ask him “What happened here?”

I am increasingly surprised by the tale that Alastor tells me as how Mr. Thomson arrived out of his breath and seriously injured and told them that the two Hufflepuffs attacked and injured him and his friends on the seventh floor for no apparent reason. I am even further surprised to hear Alastor saying that it would be the other way round and defending the two accused with something akin to admiration and pride in his voice.

“Poppy, how long till we can question them?” I ask the school matron.

She replies that we can question Miss Tonks who has a slight concussion, Mr. Jacobs who has some cuts and bruises and Mr. Thomson immediately; the ret have shattered and missing bones and are in a fair bit of pain so they will have to be questioned later.

I ask her to put a numbing charm on the students and revive them, I am far too much interested to learn how this happened to let some broken boned deter me.

She gets to the task as Molly and Andromeda arrive. Both the mothers quickly rush to their children’s sides though Andromeda is far more composed than Molly, after all she was a Black, and it would not do to show emotions in public.

Molly’s fussing warms my heart and my mind wanders to the plans that I have for young Harry Potter to meet and befriend the Weasleys. The boy would require the guidance and love of someone like Molly after nearly ten years of less than spectacular care by his relatives. I am forced to pay attention to the matter at hand when Molly starts ranting and shouting, that woman can be loud.

I prompt Mr. Weasley to tell his side of the story and he immediately launches in cementing the tale told by his peer Mr. Thomson, my passive Legilimency picks up on slight dishonesty and greed. I resist the urge to sigh as Molly starts ranting about ‘scarlet women’ and ‘expelling the wrongdoers’; I have a feeling that it is going to backfire on her. I step in before an argument can break out between Andromeda and Molly and ask the two accused about their story.

I am even more surprised when the blue hared young man offers to show his memory to us, it requires skill in Occlumency to pull out relevant memories and he being a Muggleborn adds to my surprise. However, I nod and call Fawkes to bring my pensieve so that we can view the memories from both Miss Tonks and Mr. Jacobs.

We view the memories and I am deeply saddened by the fact that Mr. Weasley not only started the duel but also lied to us; only Molly is stubborn enough to believe her son. The duel surprises me even more, the duo defended perfectly and showed great technique even when they were outnumbered, but I am surprised when the new student blew away his attackers in a sheer magical shockwave after his companion was hurt by the Bombarda. From then on, he attacked ferociously and with power that I have witnessed only in one student before, I am surprised and quite proud too, but he would have to be talked in order to show him the benefit of giving second chances and make him believe in redemption.

We exit the pensieve and I immediately hear an old, powerful voice intoning a spell even I have not heard of **“castratio explodere”** ; only me and Alastor are fast enough to react and send shields in the way of the unknown spell, I am very surprised to see the spell fired by none other than Mr. Jacobs pass through Alastor’s shield like hot knife through butter and funnel more power in my shield and will it to reflect the spell rather than absorbing it as I had intended earlier. Mr. Weasley is too terrified to move but my shield manages to deflect the spell on to a nearby wall where it creates a small explosion.

I try Legilimency on Jacobs as Alastor interrogates him about the spell and am shocked to find quite strong and sensitive Occlumency defenses that spring to full power as soon as I am in his mind; I am however, able to pick up some of his emotions of honesty before all is closed off.

This day is proving a bundle of surprises right on top of one another and I am not sure if I can handle any more of them. But, for now, I have to give punishments. I think hard, Weasleys are important allies and I require them in the upcoming war against the darkness, I have to be lenient towards them as I have been with Severus all these years, the Tonkses on the other hand are entirely different matter, the girl can be useful for her unique gifts but the hassle of going through Andromeda to influence Nymphadora is something even I am not too keen on taking on. The boy, Jacobs, he can be an important ally in the upcoming war due to his skill in dueling and obvious magical power but I will have to guide him towards the right path.

I put on my bet disappointed face and dish out point deductions and detentions, a little too harsh with the Hufflepuff duo, a little too gentle with the Gryffindor five but it is all for the Greater Good. In addition to this, I ask Mr. Jacobs to follow me to my office; it’s time that I guide him towards the right way of thinking.

I supply the password to the stone gargoyle guardian to my office and use the time to ascend the stairs to contemplate the events in the Hospital Wing. The only instant I can think of one having cast an unknown curse subconsciously is when someone of old family ascends to the Lordship and they feel slighted, but the boy behind me is a Muggleborn; how can he be a Lord? Maybe he was adopted by his parents, we can do a heritage ritual but too bad the ministry declared all Blood magic illegal a long time ago.

We have reached my office and I for once forgo all my antics, I am too much surprised and shocked to indulge in them. Though, I am somewhat heartened to see Fawkes fly at once in the young man’s lap and trill a song to uplift my mood.

I start the meeting straightforwardly, my mind id too tired and old to indulge in my usual cryptic advances. I ask him the necessity of his actions; it always works when they realize that they reacted unnecessarily and find this out themselves. I would never have been prepared to see the young man hissing Parseltongue after some password in Latin to remove glamours; I am shocked to my core to see Harry Potter who is supposed to be ten and at Privet Drive sitting in front of me smirking like he has just been named the greatest wizard since Merlin.

“How?” I ask weakly and his smirk gets even more pronounced; I can tell he is enjoying this.

“Time-Travel” he replies. I do not understand and for once Occlumency is not able to keep my emotions off my face; his smirk turns into a full-blown grin and he shrugs before proceeding to tell me a fantastic tale of how he and Voldemort dueled and their wands connected by Priori Incantatem and how he was sent back in time when Voldemort pulled out another wand and shot another spell at him. I have several questions but he beats me to the punch and pulls out a memory, dumping it into my pensieve indicates me to view it.

The memory is of a running firefight with death eaters against six fifteen-sixteen year old students in the Department of Mysteries as I can identify it, more specifically in the hall of prophecies. I am proud to see my students faring well against the more experienced and generally better dark wizards. I, myself am raring to go and fight these as they are throwing around potentially lethal spells at mere schoolchildren, the memory ends abruptly as a bushy haired girl falls to Dolohov’s trademark ‘blunt sword of death’ spell as a young Harry Potter cries in anguish. I am confused as to the reason that Harry showed me this memory, this must have registered on my face as he says, “The fight with the five here brought back memories from that one and I reacted accordingly.”

I am not given any time to plan and play my next move as the young man replaces the memory in his head and starts off with the living conditions of young Harry Potter. I am very disappointed to admit that the Dursleys have not been the best of guardians for the young saviour but again surprised to learn that the young man sitting before me has threatened them and took action against them under my nose, more than once.

He then proceeds to demand that he be placed with the young child and gives the most logical of reasons. I am forced to agree as he almost blackmails me to do as he wishes, he did not threaten me outright, but the intent was clear, a truly Slytherin move. Then, the boy has the gall to end the meeting without my acquiescence and leave the office.

I rub my temples wearily as the young man leaves after reapplying his glamours and fake skin to cover the lightning bolt scar. My head is bursting with curiosity and desire to learn all I can of the future but Mark Jacobs, or rather Harry Potter, holds all the cards at the moment; I will have to be very careful in handling this situation. He has already shown some signs of rebellion to my authority and he has knowledge of the future over me and as they say ‘Knowledge is Power’. He is cunning enough to fool the Unspeakables or find some way around the oath that they had to have him taken when they found him; I will not put it past him to unearth my plans before they bear any fruit.

The day’s surprises have taken their toll on me and I find myself very tired physically and exhausted mentally. I take a lemon drop into my mouth as I pull out the day’s memories and put them in the special cabinet; I am going to have to review the day’s events but first I must regain my energy and clear my mind. I am getting far too old for this all.

Dumbledore’s POV ends.

* * *

Tonks had to remain in the Hospital Wing for the night as she had a minor concussion and Madam Pomfrey deemed it necessary that she spend the night in the infirmary rather than try to treat the injury with artificial methods. This was a major source of worry for Harry as Charlie and his goons were in for a painful and horrible tasting night with a heavy dose of Skele-Gro to help regrow their bones after they had to be vanished due to the bone exploders and bone shattering curses that Harry had hit them with. He was not going to leave Tonks alone in their company and he told madam Pomfrey as much.

Madam Pomfrey arrived at Tonks’ side when she saw that harry was still sitting there.

“Mr. Jacobs, the visiting hours are finished; please leave my patient alone now, she needs to rest.” Madam Pomfrey spoke in her usual no-nonsense voice.

“I am not going to leave her alone, with them.” Harry said pointing to the five.

“I understand your concerns very well, Mr. Jacobs but I cannot allow you to remain here.” Madam Pomfrey spoke insistently.

“Look ma’am, I am not leaving here; I promise I will not disturb Tonks or them in any way but I will not leave her alone here.” Harry spoke in a firm voice.

Madam Pomfrey looked like she was going to object but looking at the concern for Tonks in Harry’s eyes, she topped herself. She sighed and said “Very well, Mr. Jacobs; but you disturb any of my patients in any way and you are banned from my infirmary.”

“Yes ma’am.” Harry promised and took a chair next to Tonks’ bed as Madam Pomfrey moved about giving potions to the other patients.

“Hey, you don’t have to stay here, you know.” Tonks spoke softly when she saw Harry pulling up a chair beside her bed.

“I know, but I want to, and besides I do not want to leave you here alone, with them still around here.” He spoke pointing to the other five.

“I can take care of myself, thank you very much.” Tonks spoke with a huff.

“You can, exceptionally well; but you need rest and I want to make sure that they would not try anything to my friend.” Harry said looking directly into her eyes.

“Thanks.” Tonks spoke so softly that Harry had to strain his ears trying to hear her clearly.

“No, thank you. For being there; Halloween has always brought bad memories to me.” Harry said softly looking away from her to hide his tears as finally he let memories of his parents, Sirius, Ron and Hermione, Lupin and his other friends come to his mind. He had tried very hard not to think about his friends who he had left behind all these months but Halloween brought everything he had lost to the front of his mind.

Sensing his emotions, Tonks gently took his hand in hers and tried to give all the support she could by the simple gesture, her eyes though contained some curiosity which Harry caught on.

Something about her face, the way she looked at him, and the memories he had of her from his timeline made him trust her and he decided to tell her a little about himself; maybe telling her would lessen some of the pain.

“My parents were killed on Halloween when I was one year old.” He spoke quietly and Tonks squeezed his hand gently in support and looked at him in complete understanding, he just squeezed back and they settled into a comfortable silence, Tonks did not pry further and Harry was very grateful for it.

Finally, finished with her other patients, Madam Pomfrey arrived at Tonks’ bed and said “Now you need to sleep young lady, if you have trouble sleeping then there is a sleeping potion on the nightstand. If there are any problems Mr. Jacobs, you will call me immediately.”

With that Madam Pomfrey left for her quarters with a slight smile on her face at the duo. She had a hunch that they will be together before the year was over.

Harry took out his wand and put up a silencing charm around them as Tonks did not feel like sleeping at the moment and he did not want Madam Pomfrey to bear down on him.

“Say Mark, what did happen after I was knocked out? I mean, they were not that injured by then.” Tonks asked.

Harry tensed, he did not want her to see him as a monster for hurting them that badly; truly, a part of him felt disgusted at himself while a large part of him said that the gits deserved far worse but it was very difficult to give up the way he had lived by in just a day.

Seeing that the question had made Mark tense and a panicked look in his eyes Tonks spoke “You don’t have to tell me, I was just curious.”

Finally, Harry decided to tell her the truth, she was his friend, only friend in this time, and he tried to hide as little as possible from his friends; also something about her made him trust her explicitly.

“No, it’s okay; well, after you were knocked out, I felt something snap within me, I wanted to hurt them as much as they had hurt you, I wanted revenge and somehow I managed just that and they ended up as injured as they were when we were brought here.” Harry said leaving out the gory details with a faraway look in his eyes.

He did not dare to meet her eyes, he did not want to see the revulsion he was sure she was feeling; for all he knew about Tonks, she was still innocent, though she had seen and felt the harsh realities of life he still found her innocent, a bit naïve even and he did not want to see what she thought of him now.

Tonks though, understood his emotion easily and perfectly, she knew what he feared but she was far stronger than people gave her credit for; she pulled his cheek to make him look at her and spoke in a soft voice, understanding shining in her eyes “What, you think that I think you are a monster? No Mark, fight fire with fire, that was the first thing mum taught me after the first time I cried after hurting one of my tormentors; they wanted to hurt us, they did hurt us and we hurt them; there is nothing wrong with that. They deserved far more than they got.

“I understand the need for revenge and it’s important that you do too, every person has negative emotions, bad qualities in them. A good person is not the one that suppresses all the negative emotions, who does not have any bad qualities; no, a good person is one who does not let his bad qualities, negative emotions control them. But, it does not mean that there is no darkness inside them too. Suppressing your anger, hate, jealousy makes them even more, then they start to consume you; using these to do good things is what makes you a good person, always remember that.”

By the end of her monologue, Harry was looking at her in a new light; he now knew that she was far more mature than even he was. ‘And I thought myself older than my years.’ He thought with a snort

But what she said got him thinking, too often in the past he had suppressed his anger, jealousy, hate in order to make himself look good; this had resulted in these growing even more and the few times they got out of his control, the results had been disastrous, he had been angry at Sirius for living through him and look where it got him? He was angry at the Dursleys and he resorted to physical violence because he did not let himself be angry at them and when it got out of control, well what he could accomplish with a few pranks, he did by broken bones and the like. Well, no more.

“Thank You, I really needed to learn that; now, you go sleep, you need your rest, I will be there when you wake up in the morning.” He said with a new determination and understanding in his voice.

Tonks smiled at him; reaching up she kissed his cheek “Good Night, Mark.”

“Night, Tonks” he whispered kissing her cheek in return when she pouted at him and watched her fall asleep almost instantly.

She looked so beautiful asleep, like a sleeping angel. Harry particularly loved the way her hair changed colours from emerald green to blue to red to dark brown of Andromeda and could not stop himself from reaching and kissing her forehead; he was surprised to find his hand in hers while the other one was running through her hair. She frowned when he stopped and relaxed when he started again. Shaking his head, he too closed his eyes and fell asleep on the chair.

While this all was happening, in the village of Hogsmeade, inside a house built in a tree trunk; Andromeda Tonks, formerly Black, the younger sister to Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black; cousin to the infamous Sirius Orion Black, was in deep thought. She was reviewing her memories of the day, more specifically, of the one event in the Hospital wing, the memory of the blue-haired friend of her daughter casting a curse flawlessly. While it was no surprise in a magical world, what was surprising was the curse was a Black family spell, meaning it could not be cast by any person who was not a Black, not even she could cast it as she was disowned.

She had seen the curse being cast by her father when Marius Mulciber had dishonored the Black family, mainly her younger sister Narcissa. She had even cast the curse on Eric Rosier. ‘How did he do this?’ she thought. ‘Is he descended from some disowned Black?’ she mentally went through a list of all the disowned Blacks, no one save herself, had lived long enough to produce children. The more she thought about it, the more confused she got until she decided to grill the young man himself.

She sighed and summoned a parchment and a quill and wrote a letter to her daughter requesting a meeting with her friend and inviting him to celebrate Christmas with them. She cast a special privacy charm on the letter so that only her daughter or her friend could read it and put it on the desk, deciding to send it the next day.

Later in the night, Madam Pomfrey walked in the infirmary to check up on her patients; she could not help but smile at the sight that greeted her, “Mark Jacobs, one of her students, was sleeping in a chair next to the bed of Nymphadora Tonks, another student of hers, she was holding his left hand possessively while his right was running through her hair as he slept on. The scene also brought some tears to the old woman’s eyes as she remembered a similar scene with Lily Evans and James Potter in their seventh year.

She wiped the moistness from her eyes with a handkerchief and chuckled softly thinking ‘I would have to remember waking up Mark before Nymphadora, poor James could never live down the fact that he overslept Lily while he promised to be there for her the next day.’ She put a blanket on the young man and continued with her inspections.

The next morning Harry woke up quite stiff from sleeping in a chair but also content. Madam Pomfrey arrived and said “Good, you are up, Mr. Jacobs; please wake Miss Tonks up, if you will; I am quite busy today.”

Harry nodded and Madam Pomfrey left to wake the other patients up. Harry sighed and stretched trying to work away the stiffness he felt. Sighing again, he tried to wake Tonks up by shaking her. Tonks though, decided that she did not like being shaken and shrunk in height to that of a child’s and curled further into the sheets. Deciding that he could not wake her up so easily he thought for a moment and tried a different tactic.

Casting a voice-altering charm upon himself to make him sound like Andromeda, he shouted after casting a silencing charm behind him so that the voice does not reach Pomfrey; “Nymphadora dear, wake up; breakfast is ready.” Tonks sprang awake as soon as breakfast left his mouth and looked around in confusion, when she saw Harry rolling on the floor laughing hard, in her mother’s voice’ she kicked him hard in the shins making him scowl at her.

“Good morning Miss Tonks, I hope you are feeling well?” Madam Pomfrey said as she saw that Mark had succeeded in waking Tonks up.

“Morning madam Pomfrey, yeah, I am feeling great, no headache.” Tonks replied smirking at Harry who just pouted at her.

“Excellent, you may leave now, don’t do anything strenuous for the day though.” Pomfrey said and shooed her off.

Tonks instantly jumped out of the bed and looping her arm around Harry’s she proceeded to drag him towards the Great Hall for breakfast.

“Good morning to you too.” Harry said sarcastically while Tonks moved with a frightening speed towards her goal, which is food.

“Good morning, oh damn, what are they on about now?” Tonks spoke as they reached the Great Hall, whispers and pointing started immediately as they entered the hall.

“Looks like the news of yesterday leaked out.” Harry spoke from his long experience of the speed of the Hogwarts rumor mill.

Indeed the Gryffindors and the Hufflepuffs were glaring at them and muttering angrily while the Slytherins looked in some sort of smugness and Ravenclaws looked their usual self if a bit smug.

Harry was proven further correct when a Slytherin seventh year clapped him on the back in the friendliest way possible and said “Nice work putting Weasel in his place, Jacobs.” He left after that but nearly all the jaws were on the ground in the Great Hall. A ‘snake’ compliment a ‘puff’, that was unheard of!

They had a not so quiet breakfast with students muttering and pointing at them all the way.

They were just about to leave for some showers when Tonks pointed to a brown owl saying “That’s my mum’s owl, wonder what she has written.”

The owl spotted Tonks and landed in front of her sticking its leg out on which a small envelope was tied. Tonks fed the owl some bacon and took the letter.

After reading it quickly she handed it to Harry saying “Mum wants you to celebrate Christmas with us, oh we will have so much fun!”

Harry took the letter and read it quickly, it said

Dear Nymphie

I would like you and your friend Mark to come celebrate Christmas with us, I have some things I wish to discuss with him.

Your loving mother

Andromeda

Harry handed the letter back to Tonks deep in thought, he turned to Tonks when she spoke “Oh, by the way, where are you living, you could come live with us if you do not have a place yet.”

Harry thought hard, ‘the Leaky Cauldron and the other places are out as they can check up there. I can tell her the truth, she has some skill in Occlumency, maybe Harry would like to meet the Tonkses at Christmas, yep, that’s it.’

He dragged Tonks off to an empty classroom and proceeded to put as many privacy charms, silencing charms he knew.

Tonks looked at him confusedly, seeing this he spoke; “Er, it’s a secret but, Dumbledore wants me to live with Harry Potter and ease him up for his entry into our world.” He spoke quickly trying to ease it on Tonks who was looking at him even more confusedly.

“Come again.” She said in an unusually calm voice, obviously shocked.

“Err… you know Harry Potter lives with his muggle relatives?” Tonks nodded, “Well, they don’t like magic much and so he does not know anything about our world, so Dumbledore asked me yesterday if I would like to live with him on holidays so I can tell him about his place in our world and make him ready for his big return.” Harry said slowly.

“Yeah, but why you?” Tonks asked still confused.

Harry was now in a dilemma, he could not decide whether to tell her the truth or to tell her a lie, bidding for time he said finally “I need to talk to your mum before I tell you that, could you tell her to be prepared for our visit on Sunday?”

Looking at him in obvious curiosity she sad finally “Sure.”

She wrote a letter for Andromeda and sent it through Hedwig still looking at him in curiosity and a little anger.

The first class that day was Ancient Runes which was taught by Bathsheda Babbling, a young witch with flyway brown hair and blue eyes who was heralded as one of the youngest and most talented Runes mistresses in the whole continent.

She was quite impressed with the duos progress in learning the syllabus for sixth year and had left them alone in her class as long as they got straight Os in her assignments.

They entered the classroom and took their usual seat at the back corner away from the rest of their classmates waiting for the professor to arrive them to give their work for the day. She approached the two and after tapping a runic equation on their desk for a privacy ward with her wand started to speak in her usual brisk manner.

“Mark, Tonks, Alastor came to me yesterday and asked to teach you two some runes for use in duels after telling me of your little fight with Weasley yesterday, so we are going to start working on that.”

“But professor, aren’t runes supposed to be drawn on a surface; I don’t think that we would have time to draw them in a duel.” Harry asked.

“Yes, but we can create one use rune equations which are very fast and can be drawn in the air with a wand. Watch” she said and waved her wand in front of her where a rune equation blinked for a short moment, “now send a stunner at me.” She commanded.

Harry flicked his wand and the familiar red jet of stunner sped towards the calmly standing professor before disappearing in the space where the rune equation was created.

Both Harry and Tonks were understandably impressed by the possibilities but Tonks had another question before she could be convinced to put her effort in learning this.

“But professor what if we are in middle of a firefight, I don’t think we could spare even a second for creating runes by our wand then.” Tonks asked.

“Very good question Miss Tonks, take ten points for Hufflepuff; now watch.” This time the professor waved her hand in front of her and another rune equation flashed into existence for a moment, “Again Mark, try a stunner” she spoke and Mark flicked his wand sending another stunner at the professor with the same results as the last time.

“Wandless magic?” Tonks asked while Harry looked on in wonder.

“Precisely Tonks, take another fifteen points for Hufflepuff. Now, as I understand, Andromeda has given you some training in wandless magic; I want you to teach Mark till your level and then progress together from there. Also, I want you to read up on runic equations that you can use in duels like the Protego shield charm and others, we will start practical training from the next term.” The professor said and walked off to the rest of the class to assist them in their work.

“Wandless magic? I thought only the most powerful wizards could do that?” Harry asked turning to Tonks.

“Power helps, but everybody can do basic wandless magic. Watch” Tonks said and waved her hand to summon his quill from his bag.

“Well professor Tonks, would you teach me?” Harry asked in a mock student voice.

“I may, if you ask nicely.” Tonks retorted with a smirk.

“Please, professor Tonks; please teach me wandless magic.” Harry said in a mock childish voice making huge puppy eyes at her.

Tonks just rolled her eyes at his attempt at puppy-eyes and started to teach him what her mother had taught her years ago.

“Okay, okay; now listen carefully” she began with a chuckle, “everyone can do wandless magic to an extent, all the accidental magic that we perform is wandless magic basically; for example, I can do levitation, summoning charm and banisher but the items should be near to me and no magic should be contained or cast by them, that’s why I was unable to summon their wands when they attacked us.” Harry nodded to show his understanding.

“Now, in order to perform it, you should be able to view your magical core but my hunch is that you can do that already; so we move on to the next step. You should be able to ‘feel’ your magic; that is how your magic feels when you cast a spell with your wand and try to recreate that feeling and push your magic through your body to perform wandless magic.

“To get a ‘feel’ of your magic, you can try to cast a sustained spell with your wand like levitation charm and then concentrate on both sustaining the charm and the ‘feel’.” She explained and Harry had to admit that Andromeda sounded like a great teacher.

Harry flicked his wad and cast a levitation charm at his quill but it was difficult to find the ‘feeling’ of his magic; he tried to remember how he felt when he had first held his wand but as he was doing this his concentration on the charm fell and the charm failed. Seeing this Tonks said patiently, “Use your Occlumency to help splitting the concentration in both maintaining the spell and feeling your magic, it’s hard I know but you can do this. Come on.” She encouraged and Harry tried again, this time he used his Occlumency to split his concentration on the two tasks but still it was very difficult to find the right ‘feeling’, finally he accomplished the task after what he felt was only minutes but was rather long time.

He cancelled the levitation and waited for Tonks to explain the next aspect as she too was meditating and Harry knew from his own experience that one should not be disturbed while doing so. He spent the time looking at her beautiful face and had to admit it to himself, she was beautiful; Tonks, meanwhile, had come out of her trance and seeing Mark looking at her with such intense gaze, it was very difficult for her to keep her blush in check on seeing Mark looking at her in such way but felt slightly happy herself as she too admitted that she was quite attracted to him.

Finally, looking that Tonks has come out of her meditative trance and he had been staring at her, Harry could not help but blush a bright red which was only increased in intensity by her laughter.

Finally getting her laughter in control, Tonks spoke taking pity on him, “Good, now in order to cast wandlessly, recreate the ‘feel’ and push magic out of your preferred body part, hand, finger and the like, and concentrate hard on what you intend it to do; a lighting charm would be a good start.”

Harry nodded and remembering how he felt with his magic, tried to push it out of his finger and recreate the same feeling, he managed a faint light after nearly ten minutes.

“Good, now extinguish it and try again till you can get it done nearly instantly; the more you will do it, the easier it would become.” Tonks encouraged him and he tried again and again; Professor Babbling too was watching his progress from afar and could not help but be impressed when he managed to do it after nearly an hour of constant practice.

“Great job, you two; take another thirty points for Hufflepuff; now Mark, as I saw it, you have managed exceptional progress in one day and I am quite impressed, keep practicing it more and more and try to work on fine tuning the amount of magic you use, you are spending too much right now. This is now nearing dinner time so I want you two to go, and have dinner, Moody has postponed your detention for one day.” Babbling said shooing them off.

“Thanks professor, I could not have done it without Tonks’ help.” Harry spoke modestly blushing a little at the praise.

“Oh, I totally forgot, I managed to get you two exempted from classes for today so here is your homework and notes.” Babbling said waving off his thanks and summoning a stack of parchment as both of them let out simultaneous groans at the large pile of homework that they would have to finish.

“Now, off with you.” She said with a chuckle at their miserable faces as they pouted at her, she was not so older than the two and liked them well enough that they had a friendly relationship as was evident from her usage of their preferred names rather than Mr. This and Miss That used by other teachers.

They finished their dinner quickly amid mutterings and pointing and started on their homework, they had a large amount to finish today itself.

 


	8. Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A filler chapter, nothing going on really; before Christmas, just advancing the plot

 

Chapter 8

Interlude

* * *

On Saturday, during lunch; Moody had stomped off to the two ‘puffs’ to handle their detentions. They had to meet him every two days at six o’ clock for their detentions. Rumor had it that the old auror had made life hell for their attackers and that they were his most favourite students in Hogwarts. Harry could not help but look proud of himself whenever someone in Hufflepuff praised him for it. It was rare to see Hufflepuff house getting some glory and that made him kind of a hero in there too. Safe to say, life was going on good for our time-traveller.

Everything was not going so well, of course; while Charlie had kept his distance from the couple after the Halloween, Harry had too much experience with such Malfoy-esque people and knew that it was only a matter of time before he made another move. His grades especially in potions had started to suffer due to long hours he put in practicing battle type spells determined to make the most of his time travel; and not to mention, Quidditch.

It was with trepidation that Harry, rather Mark, as he was called and known as, and Tonks made their way to Moody’s office. Remembering his visit to fake Moody’s office in his fourth year, he was not surprised to see the office looking nearly the same with dark detectors and other instruments covering nearly every corner of the room. Grudgingly, he admitted that Crouch Jr. had done a very thorough job in impersonating Moody.

Moody gestured for them to take a seat before him and looked deep in thought, after a few moments’ silence, he started speaking in his usual gruff voice, “I will be honest, you two have the most potential for becoming aurors that I have seen in quite some time.”

Harry and Tonks managed to look not too proud of themselves, but sat a little straighter in their respective seats.

“Regardless, you still have another year here before you can even try to appear for the training examination. I hate to see potential going waste and I would hate to see you two bollocksing it up when I am not here after this year.” He continued. Harry and Tonks shared a glance wondering where this conversation was heading to.

“It is for this very reason I propose if you would like to take your Defence NEWT this year rather than the next year.” Moody finished and looked at them expectantly.

Harry was almost jumping in joy, thinking it over once again, he could not see any fault in it. Seeing as the next year was going to have Quirrell as the DADA teacher while being possessed by Voldemort. Only concern he could see was it would attract unwanted attention from the Dark Lord that two of the students took exams of the subject he was teaching, a year early.

Tonks on the other hand blurted out, “Why? I mean we are neck deep in homework without NEWTs being this year as it is.” She explained seein Moody’s raised eyebrow.

“The standard of teachers in this particular subject has been rather lacking with a few notable exceptions. I was merely hoping that you two would secure required NEWT score in Defence this year only and thus make it easy for entry in Auror academy.” Moody explained. “I would rather you take your time before making any decision, of the sorts; but give me an answer before December. I would have to pull a few strings to get everything done smoothly if you choose so.” He said and then stood up waving his wand to clear some space in the office.

“Now, as to your detention; seeing that the two of you got it after wiping the floor with Weasley and his goons, I thought why don’t we see if you are as good as everyone think you to be.” Moody said. Neither Tonks nor Harry like the smirk on his face one bit.

Two and a half hours later, Moody was still sporting the same smirk and though he was bleeding from a few places and his breathing was a bit labored, he was the better off of the three duelists. Harry and Tonks, on the other hand had gotten their butts handed to them. Apparently, Moody was holding back when he had first dueled Harry for his DADA OWL exam and had underestimated the kid. Now, he had wiped the floor with the two.

“You have got the stamina and teamwork down pat. You just have to work on increasing your arsenal and experience. That’s what I am here for in these ‘detentions’.” Moody spoke after the three used their combined healing knowledge and experience to heal themselves. None of them wanted to face the wrath of Madam Pomfrey, especially after she had to treat Mark and Tonks just a few days back.

“You laddie, you have to work on keeping your surroundings and partner in perspective; trust her to take care of herself.” Moody growled to Harry who nodded sheepishly, he tended to go into tunnel vision whenever he dueled and Moody had used that against him expertly.

“You lass, you need to work on your balance and coordination; I know it’s hard as your body is almost constantly in change but I meant it when I said that you two had to most potential to become aurors that I have seen.” Moody said in a softer voice to Tonks whose eyes looked surprisingly shiny.

“Good job, you two. We will meet again in two days’ time. There better be improvement then.” Moody growled dismissing them.

The two nodded and walked towards the door when Moody’s voice sounded again, “Ah, almost forgot; next time you have to bring me two rolls in parchment on ‘Useful curses and jinxes in numerically disadvantageous situations.’ With your weaker hand.” He smirked enjoying their groans. “Get going then.” He chuckled.

* * *

“Are you okay, Tonks?” Harry asked as they walked towards the Hufflepuff common room.

Tonks, who still looked that she would cry anytime nodded and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “Yes, just that I always wanted to be an auror when I heard all the horrible things my relatives have done. My mum was a Black you know, and they were quite evil. Disowned my mum when she married dad, just because he is a Muggleborn.” She spoke “Being an auror is my way to make some repairs for what they have done.” She continued.

“I am sure you would be a fantastic auror, Tonks. And just because your relatives were evil does not mean you would be like them. Your mum is a fine example of this.” Harry spoke and gave her a pat on the back unsure what more to do when Tonks looked even more teary.

“Thanks, Mark.” Tonks wiped her eyes again and turning towards Harry started to move her face closer to his when they were startled by Peeves emerging from behind them cackling madly pelting the Weasley twins with chalk.

“Er, uhm, right; let’s get moving before he decides that we would be better targets.” Harry said awkwardly and started again towards the common room. ‘What is this with girls crying and kissing me?’ he thought.

Tonks gave Peeves her most venomous glare and stalked off towards the common room behind Harry.

Once in the common room the two decided to finish off Moody’s assignment as it would take the most time. The facts were not too hard to find with all the extra reading material Moody had provided the two with but the temptation to write using their dominant hand was too much and thus almost an hour was spent without any work being done.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Tonks closed her eyes and threw another ruined parchment away. She bolted upright as an idea struck her. Flanking at Mark who too was tearing off a ruined parchment, she got up and slid her chair besides his.

“What are you doing Tonks?” Harry asked her warily.

“Oh nothing, just got an idea.” She said with a devious gleam in her eyes.

Now turning his attention completely towards the smirking girl, Harry gestured for her to continue. Tonks just sat down on her chair and grasped his right hand with her both and started drawing circled on the back of his hand.

“Uh, Tonks; what are you doing?” Harry asked in a shaky voice, blushing a little.

“Oh silly, now you will not be able to use your right hand, and thusly complete the homework with your left.” Tonks said brightly.

“That makes sense, but what about you?” Harry spoke after swallowing nervously due to Tonks now pressing her whole side against his right hand.

“You finish yours first, I will do mine tomorrow.” She said sighing exasperatedly.

“But wouldn’t that take twice the time?” Harry was persistent.

“Oh hush you” she said rolling her eyes and kissed him squarely on the lips, “Besides, we were not getting anywhere anyway.” She said enjoying his breathless, wide eyed look “Now, hurry up.” She chirped and continued to pretend reading a book on the table pressing herself fully to his right arm.

Harry just touched his lips again, thinking about the kiss. Taking a deep breath, he started on his assignment trying not to notice Tonks now pressing her more and more to his right side.

By the time he had finished, Tonks had fallen asleep using his arm as a makeshift pillow and the common room was empty. He cleared off the table and tried to extract his arm from her without rousing her from her slumber but did not have much success.

“Good night Tonks” he said kissing her forehead and drifted off.

They were woken up the next morning by none other than a very stern lookin Professor Sprout. “Miss Tonks, Mr. Jacobs; what is the meaning of this?” she asked.

“What’s the meaning of what?” Tonks said squinting at her, her brain only half kicked into gear due to sleep.

“This, sleeping in the common room. Together.” Sprout hissed gesturing in their direction.

By this time Harry had woken up enough to be of use, Tonks had already started snoring softly; “Well you see, professor Sprout, we were doing Professor Moody’s assignment an I guess we fell asleep.” Harry replied trying to look sheepish.

“Next time, Mr. Jacobs; do try to finish your assignments before falling asleep and more importantly, make use of your dormitories.” Sprout snapped and walked away with a huff.

Sighing, Harry cast a tempus charm and seeing that it was still quite early, tried to drift off to sleep again; a good decision, seeing that Tonks had somehow managed to grip his hand again.

But sleep did not come for him, and he laid there trying in vain to clear his head and will himself to sleep. As Tonks took a turn and ended up more on hi than on the chairs, his thoughts drifted to the kiss she had given him the previous day. ‘Did she mean anything by it?’ he asked himself. If it had been the Tonks of old, he would have said that no, she did not mean anything; but this Tonks was different. But, on the other hand, she had returned to her usual playfulness around him. The more Harry thought about that, the more confused he got. Time travel or not, girls were still a mystery for him.

* * *

As the days passed and his visit to the Tonkses neared, Harry was caught in a dilemma. What should he tell them about himself? He was under no illusions that they would not catch him somehow or that he would be able to fool them completely. The Blacks were masters of misleading and subtlety was not his strongest trait. A part of him wanted to trust them completely and tell them everything fully, it would be nice to be able to talk to someone freely about that stuff and Tonks was his friend in the previous timeline. Another part of him wanted to be wary of them and tell them only half-truths, after all he didn’t know if they would not try to stop him from changing time or make some changes themselves.

With a frustrated sigh, he concentrated on changing the name ‘Harry Potter’ to ‘Mark Jacobs’ and intoned “Confundo” on the Marauder’s map. He was preparing it for their excursion to meet Andromeda and it would raise a lot of questions is Tonks saw the map showing him as Harry Potter, especially when he was still confused whether to tell them or not.

The letters blurred for a moment but again righted themselves and the dot showed ‘Harry Potter’ as if mocking him. Harry cursed viciously and wished he could overpower the bloody parchment into submission but Moody had stamped off that habit quite well and had gotten him to fine tune his magic.

It had taken time, certainly, but Moody had started just after that dueling competition. He had asked him to balance a hair at a particular level all the while maintaining a shield to stop Moody’s attacks from harming him. A hit or any fluctuation in the chair’s position would result in disqualification and Harry being practice dummy for Moody’s lessons for next lecture. He had been given another wand by Moody which he used left handed for levitation, his own for the shield.

He had whined about it at first. “I certainly do not see the need of this ‘fine-tuning’.” Harry had said arrogantly, the hidden ‘I can overpower almost anyone’ was not so hidden. Moody had trounced him soundly without breaking even a sweat and after Harry had magically exhausted himself, had said; “What would you do now, boy? Anyone with a touch of skill and almost equal magical power can hold out until you exhaust yourself; what then?”

It was due to this lesson, Harry was determined to get the map to change without using all his might. Also he wanted to see how much power Crouch Jr. would have had to use to confound the Goblet of Fire in his fourth year. Taking a deep breath to clear his head, Harry started again. “Confundo” he pushed his will to make the change happen, he poured more and more of intent behind the spell, magical power was still not significant enough to be noticed by someone having as much as Harry but the change happened and the dot on the map now showed ‘Mark Jacobs’. Harry sighed again and wiped the map off with a muttered “Mischief managed” he would see if the change holds till tomorrow morning.

Saturday evening, two disillusioned figures could be seen making their way through Hogsmeade if one looked carefully enough. Harry and Tonks had successfully snuck out of the common room and subsequently out of the school and Tonks was expressing her astonishment quite vocally. Harry was very thankful for the silencing sphere Moody had taught them.

“That was amazing Mark, and that map you have; bloody brilliant. I am jealous; you have the coolest gadget in the History of Hogwarts and you came here just this year.” Tonks gushed.

“Well at least I came this year, what would have happened had I remained in America altogether?” Harry teased.

“Then it would have been a bloody nightmare.” Tonks shivered in mock horror, “And I am glad that you came here this year.” She spoke quietly and Harry did not hear her.

 As Tonks continued to chatter about the map, Harry reflected upon their journey out of Hogwarts. They were nearly caught by filch but some quick thinking by Tonks had saved them. Harry wished he still had his dad’s invisibility cloak, not only to see Tonks’ reaction but also for the ease of movement in the castle. But the cloak was still with Dumbledore, speaking of whom; he had sent Mark Jacobs a note expressing desire for a meeting with him tomorrow in his office after breakfast.

In a way, Harry had been anticipating this ever since his hit and run attack on Halloween but he was still wary of the Headmaster. Long hours of thinking about his past life had made him aware of many manipulations the old wizard had done in order to enforce his plans and Harry was very cautious to keep Dumbledore guessing so that he cannot stop him from making some changes or worse, controlling him somehow and being the puppet master.

* * *

Tonks knocked at the door of Tonks’ residence and it was opened at once by her mother. “Nymphadora, Mr. Jacobs.” She greeted, though her voice was quite cold. Tonks winced at her name.

“Mark please, Mrs. Tonks, good evening.” Harry greeted.

“Wotcher mum.” Tonks said cheekily waving at her mother.

“Care to explain why have you two snuck out of the school at night while we could have had this meeting tomorrow, which is Sunday.” Andromeda asked.

“Oh mum, you need to loosen up a bit. After all, how many students can say that they successfully snuck out of Hogwarts?” Tonks said dragging Harry off to the couch in the sitting room.

Mrs. Tonks looked absolutely furious and Harry wondered what kind of trouble Tonks would be in but then she too came into the sitting room and took seat on a chair before them. “Mark, to what do I owe the pleasure of this meeting?” she asked.

“I wanted to discuss my presence for the Christmas party.” Harry said and Andromeda raised an eyebrow in curiosity revealing nothing much.

“Uh… I just wanted to ask if it would be alright if I brought another guest.” He said nervously, Andromeda merely raised her other eyebrow, “Well, would it be okay if I brought Harry Potter to the party?” he asked.

Now Andromeda was very curious, how in the name of Merlin did this boy know Harry Potter enough to be able to bring him to their party, and he was a foreigner to boot. Her mind got working and she started to connect the dots. ‘Harry Potter is related to the Blacks via his grandmother, Dorea; none of the disowned Blacks are survived by any children apart from me, that is; means this Mark Jacobs is actually Harry Potter. But how? And this boy was able to one of our family spells, all the more reason to believe that my hypothesis is indeed correct.’ Deciding to startle him enough to get answers from him she carefully blurted out, looking that she was shocked “You are Harry Potter.”

Tonks looked at her as if she had lost her mind, or gone bullocks in her words, while Mark, Harry looked at her in shock, ‘How did she find out?’ he thought, “H-how?” he could blurt out after nearly three minutes of stunned silence in the household. Tonks looked at him in hurt and betrayal at hearing his voice, it was almost a confession.

“Are you or not?” Andromeda pressed giving nothing away.

Sighing wearily, Harry answered “Yes I am.” ‘Looks like the secret is out, eh.’ Tonks looked almost to the point of tears but held them at bay, she wanted to hear more of the story as she was certain her mother would squeeze out of Mark, Harry. ‘Damn, what do I call him now?’ Andromeda smirked in satisfaction.

“Well then, Mr. Potter; mid telling us how are you here, or must I say how are you now?” Andromeda asked.

Harry contemplated his options, he could tell them, he was more and more inclined to this one as Andromeda had certainly showed the she had brains or that she is a very good bluffer; she could, nonetheless, point out holes in his story lest he hides something. And she was Sirius’ cousin, his favourite cousin, he could trust her. That made his mind up; sighing he said, “Okay, but you would have to take an oath of silence till I say it is okay to come out with the truth.”

“Why would we do that?” Andromeda asked.

“The oath, or I tell you nothing; this information is very sensitive.” Harry said, by now he had his wand out, he did not know how to do the memory charm but he could very well pretend, couldn’t he?

Seeing his wand pointing at her and looking at the resolve in his eyes, Andromeda sighed and took the oath. “Thank you, Mrs. Tonks.” Harry said and when Tonks did not take the oath, he sighed wearily and said, “You will have to take the oath too, Tonks.”

“Why? Why would I trust you when you could not trust me to tell me about it?” Tonks asked at the verge of tears, raising her head defiantly.

Harry winced, “This is not a matter of trust, Tonks. I could not very well go around saying that I had time-travelled.” Harry said looking at her.

“Do it, Nymphie dear; we should listen to his reasons before deciding anything. Time travel is not a trivial matter.” Andromeda said gently, vacating her seat she switched places with Harry and put an arm around her daughter to comfort her.

Tonks looked none too pleased to do so but she too took the oath and Harry started to tell his story, he told them all; about Quirrell in first year to basilisk in the second, Sirius’ innocence and subsequent death, the Triwizard tournament, Voldemort’s rebirth, he told them everything without leaving a single detail out. Both the Tonks women were in tears by the time he finished, especially the part about Sirius’ death was emotionally jarring for them. Harry did not notice but he too was in tears by the time he had finished his story, Tonks still looked angry at him tough.

Deciding that tea would be good after such emotionally jarring tale, Andromeda wiped her tears away and got up to make tea and Tonks finally had the opportunity to vent her anger on Harry. “So, you became my friend only because you know me from your time?” she started to say in an accusatory voice. She was not angry at being kept in dark, no, she understood the reasoning behind that perfectly; no, she was angry because she thought Harry had approached her only because he knew her in the past; and his responses to her were calculated from the future. Add her increasing attraction to him, she was enraged even further.

Fortunately for Harry, he guessed right about what was bothering his friend that much and he explained, “No Tonks, it’s nothing like that. I became friends with you because of who you are, not who I knew you to be. We did not even spend that much time with each other, barely a week, but you were a friend to me then and you are a friend to me now.” He also told her about her thoughtful gift to him for Christmas. The toy Firebolt had done a huge part in cheering him up and making him forget about certain things.

Still Tonks looked a bit mollified but still somewhat distant. Harry sighed, he would have to give her time, he just hoped that he did not lose his friend, and dare he admit it, his crush, potential girlfriend, to such a trivial reason. He liked her, more than friends, he knew he was attracted to her but he did not dare act upon it, what if he hurt her, he did not have any experience in dating except from one disastrous date with Cho, and he didn’t even know if Tonks liked him that way. Wishing that Hermione were there to help him in this particular matter, he waited for Andromeda to bring tea.

His gaze drifted off to a photograph on the wall, it contained a young Andromeda, around twenty years of age; in her hands was a sleeping Tonks whose hair was still changing colours. Beside her was a tall blonde man, he had blue eyes and a lean build, he had his arm wrapped around her. The couple was laughing happily and there was obvious love in the photograph; he could easily compare it to his parents’ photo he had in his album. ‘So this is Tonks’ father; I have not seen him around here before. He was alive in my time, wasn’t he? Tonks did say “My dad is a Muggleborn and he is a right old slob…” wonder where he is now?’ Harry thought.

Andromeda had brought tea and saw Harry looking at her and Ted’s photograph, a tear came unbidden to her eye as she thought about her deceased husband. Clearing her throat she served the tea and took her seat avoiding looking at the other occupants in the room. Her thoughts weighing heavily towards her innocently imprisoned cousin and her husband.

“So, what do you plan on doing now?” Andromeda asked once they had finished tea.

“What do you mean?” Harry asked confusedly.

“I mean, that now that you are in the past, what do you plan to do? Something tells me that you are not simply going to wait for your time period to end and do nothing in the meanwhile, you were too much at the centre of all that happened in your time.” She clarified.

Harry had to give it to the woman, she was intelligent; frighteningly so, and to in a Hermione way. “I uh… I plan to change some things here and there, save the Flamels for example, they could be valuable in the coming war, save Cedric, Sirius; make sure that all that happened on the past does not affect me that badly as it did the first time around.” He told her.

Andromeda raised an eyebrow, the boy certainly had thought about it, at length; still, she wanted to make sure that he knew all the consequences of meddling with time. “You do realize that the more you meddle, the more changes would be brought there in the timeline?” she asked.

Harry nodded, “Yes, I know that; but to stop the time paradox thing everyone is warning me about, I just have to make sure that the duel between Voldemort and the younger me goes as it had in the first time; I can make that happen and save so many lives in the process, it is not for the better?” he said.

“Yes, it is quite for the better, but still you should be careful. Very well Harry Potter, you have my support, I shall not stop you, or hinder you what so ever in your endeavour.” Andromeda spoke.

Harry raised an eyebrow, he was thankful for the vote of confidence and had no doubt that she was a great witch, but what was she, the way she gave support to him, she made it look like she was some really important person. As far as he knew, Andromeda Tonks was not somebody that important, was she? “Uh… thank you, Mrs. Tonks. Andromeda.” He corrected at her glare.

Harry and Tonks bid her mother farewell and departed for Hogwarts not long after. Andromeda, on the other hand smiled deviously, former unspeakable had the perfect cards to exact revenge on her bigoted employers. She cackled with glee, sounding more like he sister Bellatrix than she would like to admit. Oh yes, she had the ace indeed, she would just have to make sure that the boy does not fail in his adventure.

* * *

A/N: So, how was it? Not too bad, I hope.

Read and review, people. I am really thankful for all the support you have given me. Hope you liked Andromeda.

No, she is not looking to manipulate Harry, she is just trying to guide him to the safest path towards victory, she would not keep him in dark, she would come clean, eventually, just not now.

 


	9. Realizations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some realizations.

Chapter 9

Realizations

Tonks had been quite distant as they trudged back to the castle; she had not spoken to him all throughout the path and even in the school, she had only spoken when she needed to check the map for directions.

After they had completed their journey to the Hufflepuff common room in an uncomfortable silence, Harry bade Tonks goodnight and retreated to his dormitory. He would give her space, he figured. Tonks was not the type of person who sit on their feelings too much and he guessed she would confront him with whatever had been eating her up in her own time.

 _But, is she right?_ He could not help but think to himself as he laid on his bed; _Have I really been calculating my moves around her based on what I perceived her to be in the previous timeline?_ He asked himself; the answer came to him in a flash, _Tonks’ dad was alive in my timeline but this time he is more than likely dead, as I have neither seen him on the occasions I have been there, nor has he been mentioned by Tonks or Andromeda. Maybe Tonks’ behavior is also a result of botched up timeline._

The more he thought about the matter the more convinced he got as to his theory. Particularly, when he took into account his younger self’s changed living conditions; he became almost certain that the change in Tonks’ personality was due to the botched up timeline. He decided not to dwell on the matter for the moment and put it to the back of his mind.

As he lay on his bed pondering over the events of the day; his thoughts turned to the coming meeting with Dumbledore. He was still unsure what to make of the man, on one hand, he had been the grandfatherly figure, a mentor in his life that he so dearly lacked; on the other hand, though, he struck Harry as a manipulative man who has a use for Harry and had plans in which Harry was deeply involved. One thing Harry was certain about Dumbledore was that he would go to any limits to do what he perceived as the right course of action. That much he had proved in his previous five years of magical education. The yearly _adventures_ , when looked upon with cold logic, made no sense if Dumbledore was ignorant of the goings-on in the school as he projected to be.

 _Right, giving away minimal information tomorrow it is, then._ Harry thought tiredly; _Easier said than done._

Harry did not sleep well that night; thoughts and theories that had been in his mind haunted his dreams. Nightmares about Tonks and Dumbledore ganging up on him and forcing him to retch up all the information about the future plagued him with an Andromeda-Bellatrix hybrid making occasional appearance.

* * *

 

Sunday morning came and Harry was, as usual, the first one up in his dormitory, though not as well rested as he usually used to be. He took a quick shower and hurried downstairs to wait for Tonks. He had to sit around for almost half an hour in anonymity as no one had woken up when Tonks came from her dormitory looking like she too had not had a good night’s sleep.

“Morning Tonks.” He greeted half-heartedly.

“Morning Mark.” She said dully, almost in the identical tone.

“Breakfast?” he asked.

“Yeah, let’s go.” Again, her voice was a dull monotone as if she was just forcing herself to reply to him. Harry had plenty experience of such tone of voice as he had himself used the same many times to agree with his relatives on things that he did not like.

They walked to the Great Hall in another uncomfortable silence. As usual for Hogwarts on weekends, the students had decided to sleep in so the Hall was occupied by the teachers with a couple of Ravenclaws eating on their respective table.

Harry kept glancing towards Tonks but she did not try to start a conversation and he did not want to start a forced conversation where it could reach to the teachers and spike their curiosity. After all, he and Tonks had been nearly inseparable since he had come to school and he did not want to raise questions in Dumbledore’s mind; he was sure that the old Headmaster would pick up and join the pieces if he did. Albus Dumbledore was anything but dumb. And he did not want to give Dumbledore any clues before his meeting.

After a small breakfast spent entirely in silence, Harry steeled his nerves and turned to Tonks. He had an hour before the meeting with Dumbledore and with the students starting to come for breakfast; he did not want to have any possible altercation in the Great Hall. _My life has been enough of a public spectacle anyways._

“Let’s go to the lake.” He suggested.

Tonks nodded and the two made their way to the Quidditch pitch and beyond towards the lake in complete silence. Upon reaching there, Harry put up a basic privacy charm that Moody had taught them and turned to Tonks.

“Look Tonks, I do not know what the problem is but something is bothering you.” Harry said awkwardly. It was funny how once he started the sentence his words got lost somewhere.

“I am perfectly fine, Mark, or should I call you Harry now.” Tonks replied shortly.

“Call me Mark here, I would do not want to risk another person knowing the secret.” Harry said in exasperation but forced himself to calm his rising irritation. “Is it about why I didn’t tell you that I was really Harry Potter?” he asked after taking a few deep breaths to calm down.

“No, it is not about that; to be honest I quite understand why you would not tell me that.” Tonks said.

“Then what is it about?”

“Are you Mark, or are you Harry?” Tonks asked in a stronger voice.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Harry asked in confusion.

“I mean,” Tonks said; “that when you talk to me now, do you talk to me as Mark who did not know me before school just a few months ago, or do you talk to me as Harry who knows my future self and thus reacts in the way he would have reacted to her?”

Harry got more and more confuse as Tonks put her thoughts into words; taking a few minutes to dissect her explanation and thinking upon it, he answered her, putting his thoughts into words very carefully so as to fully convey their meaning, “I am Mark, but I am also Harry.” He spoke, “When I talk to you, I see in you what Harry saw in Tonks a year ago, a fun loving individual who was really perceptive and kind, even to those who did not bother to interact with her too much.

“Though, this Tonks which I see now, this Tonks is a bit more sensitive than she was, at least that’s what the impression I got, a bit shier; but you are still the same person who gifted me a toy model of my broomstick when it was confiscated by that evil toad, and admittedly, we did not talk much back then so I was as much of a stranger to you as I was in September, but yeah, you still understood me perfectly. And before you say anything, this Tonks too, becomes just as easy going as the other one once she is comfortable. So, I am Mark, as well as Harry when I talk to you, when I see you.” Harry replied, willing her to see that he was speaking the truth.

Tonks pondered over Mark’s words; she could see that he was telling the truth. That much was plainly visible in his eyes and body language, but the main question was if she wanted to let her feelings for him continue to grow? Her growing attraction to him was one of the major reasons for her confusion and this _wall_ between them, and still she did not know the answer to her dilemma. Her relationships tended to be rocky, she was prone to distance herself off emotionally after the first few steps, it grew so much that she had started to distance herself away from her friends and potential relations but could she do that to Mark? Would he just let her do that?  These questions she had no answers for and she needed more time to find them.

Looking over at Mark, she saw him looking at her expectantly, curiously and realized that she had not said anything to him for a long time, “I will need some time, Mark.” She said, “I will need some time to sort this mess out.”

Harry was confused by her answer. _What mess? Didn’t we just clear it now?_ But realized that maybe, it was one of many problems that had been bothering her for quite some time, the eyes, at least said so, “In the meanwhile, we are friends, right?” Harry asked, uncertain due to the conflict in her eyes.

“Yes, we are friends.” She replied, nodding for emphasis.

* * *

 

Leaving Tonks in the library around 10 o’clock, Harry walked towards Dumbledore’s office for the meeting. He reached the stone gargoyle guarding the entrance quite quickly due to his knowledge of Hogwarts’ shortcuts. Taking deep breaths to calm his emotions and employing Occlumency to keep his thoughts in check he gave the gargoyle the password and mounted the spiral staircase to the office. Mustering as much confidence as he could, he knocked on the door.

“Enter.” Dumbledore’s voice came from the other side.

Harry entered the office to see a peculiar sight. Dumbledore was trying to feed Fawkes some lemon drops. Trying was the main word as the phoenix kept dodging the hand feeding him sometimes even coming close to pecking Dumbledore with its sharp beak. As soon as Harry entered, Fawkes gave a squawk of fright and flew up behind him, keeping Harry as a shield between itself and the Headmaster.

Dumbledore made a sour face at the bird, then turning his eyes to Harry, he chuckled, “Take a seat, Mark.”

Harry seated himself in one of the overstuffed chintz armchairs and after rejecting the customary offer of lemon drops looked at Dumbledore expectantly.

Dumbledore sat in silence for a while and as Harry was getting impatient, waved his wand around the office a few times. Finally he spoke, “Mr. Potter, in the last meeting you told me that you are a tie traveler; now that meeting was a bit hasty, so I was unable to ask many questions then. As I have had some time to ponder over your issue, I realized many loopholes in your story.”

Harry just sat there, taking in what the old wizard was saying. He realized that he would have to give up some information, but how much Dumbledore knew, he did not know.

“In the last meeting, you yourself volunteered information about you being a time traveler to me, I did not deduce it. As far as I know of the working of the Ministry of Magic, which is quite a bit between you and me, the Department of Mysteries has protocols to bind such cases in oath, then how were you able to volunteer information to me?” Dumbledore asked.

Harry heard the question, it was certain that Dumbledore had caught many such details in the previous meeting; he thought about all the information he knew on the man; Dumbledore was the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. He was bound to know such cases. _That’s it, Smith and Brown said something of the effect._ “I was told by the DOM that Chief Warlock is notified about such cases immediately, so I was able to give you information which you already had.” Harry replied, but looking at Dumbledore’s face, it was clear that somehow the information had not reached him.

Dumbledore’s face closed off after hearing Harry’s explanation. He had forgotten about that protocol and had made all his questions assuming Harry had somehow evaded the oath and thusly wanted to change the timeline. He had called the young man here to dissuade him from changing anything and to gleam what, if any, he had changed already. He would have to gather more information before he proceeded.

Discretely, Dumbledore extracted his wand and keeping it hidden from Harry, gave it a wave in the direction of the numerous instruments he kept on the adjacent shelf. At once, a number of instruments started spinning and emitting noises. Dumbledore got up carefully and made a show of examining the instruments; after a few seconds he waved his wand one final time and stopped all the noises.

“I am sorry, my dear boy; but I would have to cut this meeting short. I am needed elsewhere.” Dumbledore said looking at Harry apologetically.

“No problem, Professor.” Harry said and stood up to leave all the while cheering inside.

“Before you leave, Mr. Potter; I would like to know the names of the Unspeakables who handled your…incident.”

“They were gents Smith and Brown and Healer Murton.” Harry replied after a few moments to refresh his memory.

“Thank you, my boy; you may go now.” Dumbledore said absently stroking his beard.

* * *

 

After Harry had exited the office, Dumbledore walked to the fireplace and throwing a pinch of glittery floo powder in the flames shouted, “Broderick Bode, Department of Mysteries, Ministry of Magic.”

His head spun for a few moments before a dark office came into view, a rather haggard looking man was working on a few papers that littered his desk, occasionally waving his wand at one of the numerous curiosities lying about.

“Broderick.” Dumbledore called, clearing his throat.

“Albus Dumbledore!” Bode greeted warmly with a bit of surprise, “How may I be of use?” he asked cautiously peering at Dumbledore with his characteristic unfaltering gaze.

Dumbledore did not show any sign of unease by the unblinking curious gaze directed upon him, an achievement that not many accomplished, “I came here to gather some information about Agents Smith and Brown from the time room, their last case to be more precise.” He said.

“A time-traveler, eh?” Bode remarked, “Let me check a bit.” He said going to the shelf behind his desk and pulling out a large scroll of parchment from the assorted books.

“Hmm, here is; gent Smith and his team have gone to Germany to check up on rumors of rituals leading to temporal anomalies since June 21.” Bode replied after looking through the parchment.

“When are they supposed to return?” Dumbledore asked getting a little impatient.

“Sometime in January; after New Year holidays.” Bode replied nervously.

“Inform me as soon as they do; I have many things to discuss with them.” Dumbledore said, inclining his head towards Bode and vanished from the fireplace.

Bode merely shrugged and went back to his work, though a little amusement could be seen in his eyes. _It is always interesting to see Albus when he doesn’t get something he wants._

* * *

 

Harry pulled out the Marauders’ Map as soon as he was out of Dumbledore’s office. “Let’s see if he goes anywhere or if it is an elaborate set up.” He muttered to himself.

Looking in the map, he found the dot named ‘Albus Dumbledore’ pacing around in his office before he went to the wall on the right side and became immobile for a few minutes. _That crafty bugger, all of this set up just because he did not know my hand. Got lucky this time too, I guess; next time I am going to have to be prepared._

 _Stalking_ Dumbledore done, Harry turned his attention to the second most important task on hand; finding Tonks. This was not so difficult when you had the map created by four of the most successful pranksters to ever roam the halls of Hogwarts and the map recognized you as its true owner. Indeed, the map had labeled him as ‘Prongs Jr.’ once he had spilled a bit of blood on it accidentally. _I wonder what it would label Sirius’ children as. Padtoe?_ Harry snickered at the thought and saw that Tonks was still in the Library.

Remembering the conversation about her needing space, he decided to head to the Quidditch pitch to fly some. Flying always seemed to clear his head. Nodding to himself he made his way to the Common Room to pick up his broom and strode towards the Quidditch Pitch. Before he could reach in the grounds though, he was met by Allison, his captain.

“Hey there, seeker boy; decided to get some flying in?”  Allison spoke in her usual manner.

“Hey Allie; yeah, it’s such a great day to be cooped up indoors. What about you?” Harry said.

“Yeah, you are right about that; well, let’s go.” She said enthusiastically and looped her arm through his.

Harry shook his head at her enthusiasm and led her towards the grounds.

“Let me get my broom.” Allie said once they had reached the courtyard. Harry just nodded and took off, flying circles around the courtyard waiting for Allie to show up.

Allie finally got her broom and joined him in the sky after a few minutes. Harry could not be sure but he thought that she was purposely sitting arching her back so that her chest was thrust out a bit more.

“Do you always keep your broom in the Locker room?” Harry asked curiously; usually Quidditch players mainly, kept their brooms as close as possible to themselves as they did not want anyone sabotaging them.

“What? No, it was just damaged a bit, so I gave it to Madam Hooch to see if she could repair it.” She replied.

Harry just nodded as they performed some maneuvers for their upcoming match against Ravenclaw next week, just after the first game of the year between Slytherin and Gryffindor. _It’s not like everyone can afford a top of the line broomstick._

“Say Mark, what’s been bothering you?” Allie asked after a few minutes of silence.

“Huh…nothing, I am fine.” Harry replied not paying too much attention. His usual method of flying to clear his head did not seem to work as thoughts of Tonks  kept coming to his head.

“No, you are not; come on, you can tell me.”

“Really Allie, I am fine.” Harry said with a sigh.

Allison gave him a look that plainly said, ‘Really?’ “Come on Mark, even a blind person can tell you are not fine.” She said. When Harry continued to look ahead, remaining silent; she added, “And I need my seeker at his A-game next week.”

Harry thought about what Allie was saying, she was his friend; she had been in the school for seven years now; she was a friend to Tonks too, she could help him out. His decision made, he grabbed her hand, “Fine, but not here.” He said directing her broom to fly alongside him.

Harry took Allie to the secluded  spot on the shore of the Black lake near forbidden forest; descending from their brooms they sat on the outcropping rock near the shore. Allie turned top Harry expectantly.

“Just one more thing.” Harry said and waved his wand around them casting a privacy charm.

Allison rolled her eyes, “Careful there Mark, be a bit more paranoid and people would get the wrong idea.” She said playfully.

Harry blushed a little but did not say anything; instead he cleared his throat to get rid of embarrassment and said, “Would that be a bad thing?" he teased back uncomfortably.

Allison’s eyes went round as saucers, her lips opened in a perfect ‘O’. mark rarely teased anyone back, he was too shy around people. As her thoughts of the previous conversation came back, she narrowed her eyes at him, “Stop trying to side track me, tell what is bothering you so we can make it right and I can get my seeker back.” She said in a huff.

Harry sighed, it was no use trying to distract Allie now, she had gone into her ‘Captain mode’. “It’s Tonks.” He said uncomfortably.

“Now you are making sense.” Allison cried triumphantly; “What about her?” she asked more soberly.

Harry waved his hands around in frustration, “It is just so frustrating.” He said.

“What is? If you wouldn’t tell me I would not be able to help you.” Allison said rolling her eyes but looking at him in concern, she had not seen him display much emotion anytime.

“I am trying, okay; it’s hard.” Harry bit out shortly. Allison rubbed his back a little to provide him some comfort and support.

Harry took a deep breath, “It’s just, we have been together pretty much ever since I arrived here.” Harry said, “When I had first arrived here, she was not much comfortable around me and came out as a pretty shy person, quite understandable really, I myself feel uncomfortable around pretty much everyone in the castle, but I digress; so when we got to know each other better, when she started to get more comfortable around me, she came out as an easy going, carefree, fun loving, even flirtatious person.

“So, I started to act around her as I would to any other fun loving friend; and now she accuses me that I have been acting strangely around her, that I have been trying to _mold her_ into something she is not.” Harry said, breathing heavily by the time he finished, running his hand through his hair as a carbon copy of James Potter.

Allison thought about what Mark had just told her for a long time; it was clear to her that Tonks’ previous failed relationships and her growing attraction to the boy besides her had made her act in her usual manner; that is pushing away. But she could not just tell him about this, she respected Tonks’ desire of privacy even if the metamorphmagus had not directly talked to her about this. It was something that Tonks would have to reveal to Mark herself, if she ever does.

“Have you tried talking to her?” she asked finally. _First I have to know where they stand._

“Yeah we talked today, in the morning.” Harry mumbled.

“And…” she prompted.

“And… she told me that she needed some time alone to figure things out.” Harry said running his hand through his hair again.

 _It seems like she is getting ready to share her demons with him, that or trying harder to push him away._ “I don’t see what the problem is, then? If she says giver her time, then giver her time.” She said looking at him curiously.

“That’s the main problem; Tonks is not like that, she is the kind of person who would tell what they think firsthand, she is not someone who _broods_ , no matter how much it hurts her; she is not the kind of person to hide her feelings.Trust me, I know _her._ ” Harry replied in an anguished voice.

 _Oh Allison, so oblivious, and here you thought he would notice you._ “There is not much I can help you about this.” Allison said after a few moments, hiding the pain in her voice as she said this; “It is something you two would have to go over together. All I can advise you is trust her, and let her make a leap of faith to trust you. Be her friend, she would come around.”

Harry thought about the advice given to him for a few moments, it sounded true. “Thanks Allie, I hope this come true.” He said, giving her a short hug.

“It will. I am never wrong, and I have complete faith in the both of you.” Allison said returning the hug. _Just friends then; best friends. But if she messes this up, I will be ready to grab any opportunity._

Harry thanked Allison and watched her walk away for a late lunch; he himself was not hungry, and a glance on the Marauders’ Map told him that apparently Tonks too was not hungry as she was still in the library. Harry decided to put his broom back in the dorms and wander the halls for a bit, anything to help get rid of the thoughts swirling inside his mind. As he was walking away from the Great Hall, he saw Dumbledore leaving in the direction of his office. Immediately, his thoughts turned to the meeting he had with the Headmaster just this morning. With a new distraction, his feet immediately carried him off to the shore of the lake, in the shade of the oak where his father and friends had once made fun of Snape.

He pondered upon his meeting with Dumbledore; how the Headmaster had ended it abruptly after he had found that he did not control majority of variables in the equation. It did give Harry one certain thought; Dumbledore had made all his questions on the basis that Harry had somehow fooled the oath. This thought gave him even more confused realizations; did Dumbledore not trust him enough to be aware of the consequences of changing the past? Did Dumbledore not trust Harry enough not to change the past? Adding these to the events of the last year, Harry felt a fresh wave of fury towards the Headmaster. Calming himself with Occlumency, Harry pondered on his next course of action.

 _I got lucky this time, Dumbledore did not have enough information; but I have to be prepared for the next meeting, in which inevitably Dumbledore will know as much as he possibly can._ Harry realized that he would have to guard his secrets jealously but how? Loath as he was to admit it, he did not have enough experience in politicking and such meetings, but who could help him? The answer came to him in a flash. Sirius had dubbed his family, The Blacks, as one of the most cunning families which had secrets anyone would give even their sole heirs to know; and he was on somewhat friendly terms with a member, former member, of the Black family, Andromeda. And she had promised to help him in his cause.

If there was anything that Harry liked about the Wizarding World as a whole was that here promises mattered and were kept to the best of one’s ability. Despite all its backwardness, this was one region where wizards were better than Muggles. A wizard’s honor meant everything to him; while in the muggle world, the concept of honor like this had almost vanished.

 _I have to talk to Andromeda as soon as possible. But first I have to find Tonks; she would not appreciate me planning and plotting with her mother behind her back. Just hope that she would not let our issues come between this work._ Harry set off to meet Tonks in the library and ask her about her mother.

* * *

 

Harry found Tonks in the library as the map had shown, the girl was surrounded by thick dusty books in the absolute back end of the room though it did not seem like she had had any studying done. When Harry reached her, she looked half asleep. Her hair a dark blue colour hanging limply. Harry wondered why Madam Pince had not thrown her out by now.

She showed no acknowledgement of his presence though her lids returned to their normal state instead of drooping as they were before; taking this as a sign that she wanted him to state his purpose, he cleared his throat, “I met with Dumbledore today.” He spoke awkwardly.

“How did it go?” Tonks asked unenthusiastically.

“Um, it went well, I think. He ended the meeting after just one question.” Harry told her; Tonks’ shoulders straightened up a little, it was clear to Harry that whatever the issues between them may be, Tonks was interested in this conversation. Taking this as a good sign, he continued, “Apparently he did not get information about my, er…incident, from the Unspeakables; he started the meeting assuming I had somehow fooled the oath and the Unspeakables. When it became clear that he did not have all the facts, he ended the meeting abruptly.”

“So, it looks like you got off the hook.” Tonks said slowly.

“Yeah, I think so.” Harry agreed.

“So what do you want me for?” Tonks asked.

Okay, the issues between them had not vanished completely. “He would call me again, after he has gotten all the information from the Unspeakables, I want to talk to your mum, she could help me get ready for the coming meeting.” Harry said, looking at her imploringly to separate this from their personal issues.

Tonks sighed, “Mum is out for this week, some conference in France; we will go after she returns this weekend.” Tonks said.

Something about her made Harry pause and look at her again, the bubbly Tonks he had come to know these past weeks was nowhere to be found; the girl before him looked defeated, tired. He had never seen her like this, and this scared him. Though he was very uncomfortable with all the emotional stuff, he decided to let out his natural Gryffindor and took charge.

“Tonks, are you alright?” he asked hesitatingly putting a hand on her shoulder.

“Yeah Mark, I am fine.” Tonks replied. “Really” she added when Harry looked disbelieving.

“No, you are not. You are Tonks, you never look so tired.” Harry spoke hotly, barely managing to keep his voice low so as not to alert Madam Pince. “Please tell me, Tonks. I care about you.” Harry spoke earnestly. “Please.” He pleaded.

The emotion in his voice stopped Tonks’ denial in its tracks; she had not seen him showing that much emotion other than when he talked about his past with her mother and her. Taking a deep breath, she made a decision to trust him. “No _Harry,_ I am not alright.” She whispered.

“Please tell me, then.” Harry perked up, the mention of his true name spoke volumes. _Looks like she trusts me._

“This is not the place for this conversation, Mark.” Tonks said after a long time.

“Yeah, you are right.” Harry thought for a moment, “Have you eaten?” he asked.

Tonks looked at him oddly but shook her head. “Let’s go to the kitchens then. The elves will not bother us, and we will talk over food.” Harry said springing to his feet leading Tonks out of the library in the direction of the kitchens.

Once they had found a secluded corner to sit in and the elves had supplied them some snacks the two spent a few minutes in silence. Tonks trying to find an easy way to start the difficult conversation while Harry waiting for her to start.

“When you came here, I mean in this time; did you become my friend just because you knew me from your time?” Tonks said after a few minutes.

“No, as I said on Saturday, I had no idea that you would be in school when I first came here; and I did not know you that well before, our friendship was as genuine as can be. Though, I would admit, knowing you helped, I would not have told you about me as quickly had I not known you, trusted you beforehand.” Harry spoke trying to convey all the truth in his words.

“But you nearly sang my praises yesterday.” Tonks said incredulously.

“Hey, I praised Ron, Hermione, even Ginny equally; I just talked about you that much more because you were present and they were not, and you had made such a lasting impression on me in the short time I had known you. Trust me, I am not trying to turn you into the person I knew; you two are nearly the same already. Only the Tonks back then was more comfortable even around perfect strangers, and you have shown glimpses of that with me. I would not try to change you, _trust me._ ” Harry implored.

Tonks remained silent for a few minutes after hearing Harry, she tried to wrap her mind around the fact that he person she is and what Harry feels her to be are not too different. The truth was after hearing Harry talk about the Tonks from his time, she was afraid that she would not be able to catch up to the standards that Harry had set up for her and her growing attraction to the boy at her side nothing to ease her fears. All the while her instincts screamed at her to trust Harry but she had been hurt too badly in the past to listen to them. Now though, she made a decision to trust her instincts and lay her fears before the man beside her.

“I am afraid, Harry.” She started in a small voice, “I am afraid that I would not be able to catch up to whatever standard you feel me to be at. I am afraid that I would always be in the shadow of that old Tonks and when you realize that you will leave me. I am afraid that I like you and you will leave me when you find out that I am not the girl you thought me to be. She whispered the last part so low that Harry had top lean towards her to listen to her.

Harry’s eyes widened as he listened to her. _So this is the real reason, she is afraid that I would abandon her._ “Tonks, I will never leave you, believe me, believe in yourself; you are already so much better than the Tonks I knew. Maybe I was wrong about her, I did not know her, but I _know_ you. Trust me.” Harry said hoping that she would trust him and believe him, it was truth as far as Harry knew, he never did know old Tonks that well.

Hesitantly, Harry gave her a hug which was returned with vigour. He could feel wetness slipping on his neck. Tonks was crying, he separated from her and wiped the tears off her cheeks. As he got a good look at her, his breath hitched, she looked so soft, so fragile, so vulnerable. He wanted nothing more than to hide her away from the harsh world and protect her, but he knew that she was more than strong enough to face it; she just had some bad experience with it. As their eyes met, they leaned forward; hesitatingly, the two closed the distance and their lips met. It was the start of something new for the both of them.

* * *

 

A/N: And that’s it; how was it? Not too mechanical, robotic, I hope

Read and  **comment**.


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